The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved the Leveraging Energy Access Finance Framework (LEAF) programme, under which the bank will commit up to $164 million to promote decentralised renewable energy in Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tunisia.
In a press release, AfDB said that under the $800 million LEAF programme, some 18 decentralised renewable energy projects are expected to be financed, providing access to six million people and businesses, resulting in 28.8 million tonnes CO2 eq. in greenhouse gas emission reductions over the lifetime of the systems.
The statement said that AfDB developed LEAF programme, in collaboration with the Green Climate Fund, which approved $170.9 million in concessional financing for it in July 2021, adding that the framework forms part of the bank’s broader off-grid strategy under the New Deal on Energy for Africa and complements existing initiatives, such as the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa.
AfDB’s Vice President in charge of Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth, Dr. Kevin Kariuki, said: “The African Development Bank is delighted to partner with the Green Climate Fund on the Leveraging Energy Access Finance Framework, which will not only accelerate access to electricity based on decentralized renewable energy solutions, hence reducing the respective countries’ carbon footprints, but will do so with the active participation of a private sector facilitated by local currency financing and commercial capital availed under the programme.”
The bank’s Acting Director in charge of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Department, Dr. Daniel Schroth, added: “The approval of this program is very timely as it increases the Bank’s toolbox to support the fast-moving decentralized energy access market which complements conventional grid-connected solutions.”
