-
Beyond Shock, Money or Mandate: Why African Banks Aren’t Taking Bold Climate Action — And What it Will Take to Move Forward
Africa is one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world. Yet though climate finance has emerged as a growing solution, African banks have yet to truly ramp up their climate lending. As Carla Legros and Anthony Mbithi argue, one reason for this lack of urgency is that the financial case for this lending has rarely been framed in ways that resonate with how banks operate — namely, as a clear money-making opportunity in the near to medium term. They share a framework for understanding financial institutions' level of engagement in climate finance, providing funders and policymakers with a tool they can use to match their interventions to banks’ institutional reality.
Compounding this, Commercial lenders have been the focus of extensive appeals and warnings, from across the development sector and in broader media coverage, about the moral or planetary imperative of boosting climate finance — but these attempts at persuasion have not yet proven to be an effective driver of institutional behavior. Without a clear story about where the profit will come from and how soon, climate remains a peripheral concern rather than a portfolio opportunity for these institutions.- Categories
- Environment, Finance, Investing
-
Analysis: How Fossil Fuel Dependency Keeps Nigerians in Darkness
Nigeria holds more than 200 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves — the largest in Africa and ninth globally. Yet millions still face daily blackouts.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Jacqueline Novogratz and Acumen Raise $300 Million For Off-Grid Solar In Africa
Backers include Green Climate Fund, IFC, Shinhan Bank, Nordic Development Fund and Soros Economic Development Fund.
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Moving Past the ‘Infrastructure of Hope’: Why Investors, Policymakers and Entrepreneurs Must Build a Modern E-Commerce Ecosystem in Southeast Asia
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for over 95% of all businesses in Southeast Asia, and millions of these entrepreneurs have migrated their hustle online. Yet according to Macy Castillo at Enstack, due to a lack of access to reliable payment options and other tools, they are attempting to build modern e-commerce businesses on a foundation of informal agreements and personal trust: an “infrastructure of hope” that leaves them exposed to payment fraud and locked out of formal finance. She argues that this is the central challenge for economic inclusion in Southeast Asia today, and explores Enstack's solution.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
-
KawiSafi Announces $90 Million in Approved Capital to Accelerate Climate Solutions Across Africa
With backing from the African Development Bank, the Green Climate Fund, the Schmidt Family Foundation, and the Quadrature Climate Foundation, Acumen’s second KawiSafi fund marks the next chapter for the climate-resilient growth platform developed by Acumen.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Ze-Gen and Clasp Announce Strategic Partnership to Drive Quality and Accelerate Innovation in Solar Generators
ZE-Gen and CLASP will launch a new international Solar Generator competition with $100k in innovation prizes under the Global LEAP Awards.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Global
-
Aavishkaar Capital’s Global Supply Chain Support Fund (GSCSF) Supports the Horizon Group Africa with USD $5 Million Loan to Scale Operations
This is the 8th overall investment by GSC Support Fund across the Global South and the fourth investment in Africa.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
South Africa Opens Freight Rail Network to Private Firms
Transnet, which runs the country's freight rail and port services, has faced equipment shortages and maintenance backlogs worsened by widespread cable theft and vandalism, prompting the government to seek private sector involvement.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
Subscribe to Our 'Business in Global Development' Newsletter!
Our new weekly LinkedIn newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with curated news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage of impact-focused business in emerging markets.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.