The climate financing facility – the Energy Transition Accelerator Financing (ETAF) platform – received $400 million in anchor funding from the UAE through the Abu Dhabi Fund.
ETAF was launched at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow today (3 November) and will finance 1.5GW of renewable energy power and storage in developing countries by 2030.
Through co-financing, the platform also aims to mobilise an extra $2 billion in energy transition investments.
The platform will be managed by IRENA from its Abu Dhabi headquarters “capitalising on the UAE’s climate finance market and renewable energy innovation infrastructure”, the 2 companies said in a release.
The new accelerator platform will help mitigate investment risks and finance renewable energy projects in developing countries that may otherwise struggle to secure sufficient capital, they added.
Under plans, the ETAF platform will source projects on an ongoing basis, supplemented by calls for proposals aligned with Paris Agreement goals and sustainable development milestones.
Investment-ready projects identified under IRENA’s existing climate investment platform will also represent a notable pipeline, it said.
Francesco La Camera, IRENA director-general, said: “We have reached a defining moment in our generation’s efforts to put our economies and our environment on a path to stability, resilience and shared prosperity. The energy transformation is the most attractive and effective tool we have to achieve that.
“This new investment platform reflects the UAE’s commitment to shaping a sustainable future, and IRENA’s efforts to serve its over 180 member countries as an indispensable energy transformation partner. We encourage multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, governments, and private sector actors to join us in bolstering sustainable development efforts.”
