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Analysis: Staying True to the Paris Agreement Could Hobble Booming Carbon Offset Market
The booming voluntary market for CO2 emission offsets is facing a hairy double counting issue that could stop further growth in its tracks. Researchers and NGOs propose new ways of letting companies invest in energy and climate projects in the global south – without letting them use carbon credits towards their emission budgets.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Global
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A Business Opportunity With Exponential Benefits: Linking Agriculture and Energy to Improve Livelihoods in Africa
Agriculture contributes around 23% of sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP, and energy access can help drive agricultural development. However, Scarlett Santana at RMI points out that the region has few businesses enabling productive energy uses in agriculture, and the lack of electricity for mechanization is limiting growth in rural communities. She explores the opportunities that exist for agribusinesses that link their investment and other business decisions to energy considerations – and for energy businesses that link their efforts to agriculture.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy
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Tata Power Looking To Raise $500 Million for Renewables Unit in India
Tata Power is in talks with large pension and sovereign asset managers, including Canada Pension Plan Invest Board and Government of Singapore Investment Corp. to raise at least $500 million ahead of a planned initial public offering by its renewable energy unit.
- Categories
- Energy, Investing, Technology
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Green Climate Fund invests US $150 Million in African Development Bank’s Desert to Power initiative
Desert-to-Power is a flagship renewable energy and economic development initiative led by the African Development Bank whose objective is to light up and power the Sahel region.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bringing Cooking Poverty off the SDG Sidelines: A New Study Takes a Fresh Look at the Clean Cooking Challenge
Dirty cooking negatively affects almost four billion people and kills over 4 million each year – more than tuberculosis, malaria and HIV-AIDS combined. As Phil LaRocco at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs argues, the issue is one of the largest unsolved public health and equality crises humanity has ever faced – and failing to address it will put the Sustainable Development Goals out of reach. He explores why previous and ongoing clean cooking efforts have failed, and outlines some potential solutions that could finally turn things around, based on a recent study out of Columbia University.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Impact Assessment
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US Developer Lands $1.75 Million Deal for Nigerian Mini-Grids
Former start-up Husk, which originally based its business on renewables powered by rice industry waste products, has agreed to develop seven solar-plus-storage mini-grids across rural communities in Nasarawa state.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Optimizing Results-Based Financing for Off-Grid Energy: Why Localization Can Provide a Pathway to More Effective Investment
Leading investors across the energy access sector have embraced results-based financing (RBF) as a key mechanism to unlock private capital for small-scale solar and mini-grid businesses, and to advance the world toward universal electrification. But according to Audrey Desiderato at SunFunder and Martijn Veen at SNV, the remote design and management of RBF programs increases the risk that these funds will exclude local actors and innovation. They share findings from a recent white paper exploring the need for more localization in results-based financing for off-grid energy.
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World Leaders Pledge $400 Billion to Boost Clean Energy and Renewables
The pledges include projects to expand access to electricity in developing countries and improve energy efficiency.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Global