The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) was chosen by IJGlobal’s independent panel of judges to win the innovation award for Africa with one judge saying that it “stands out for its achievements and its ambition”.

One of the IJGlobal ESG Awards 2024 judges added: “I was impressed to see key areas of impact and assessment embarking on areas that others don’t always seek to measure, particularly across conflict zones and impacting women and children.”

PIDG – building on a pioneering track record of integrating climate and inclusion considerations in infrastructure investment – launched in 2023 a new 2030 strategy that takes action on climate and nature, together with sustainable development through new and improved infrastructure, the central purpose of all it does.

This – set against a bedrock of strong and structured HSES governance – supports its transactions in realising their sustainable development impact while managing HSES risks.

The organisation’s approach to climate action prioritises capital allocation for investments that contribute significantly towards climate mitigation, and / or adaptation and resilience.

The submission states: “The investment screening process is designed to identity, assess and manage climate related risks and opportunities across all investments.

“This includes a detailed assessment of climate related physical and transition risks, all investments are aligned to the goals of the Paris Agreement and we calculate the carbon footprint of each investment to track our portfolio KPI.

“We aim to maximise climate related opportunities and reward those projects, using our investment score card, that deliver climate mitigation, and / or adaptation and resilience outcomes.”

It continues: “PIDG projects promote high environmental standards, low greenhouse gas emissions and pathfinding innovations for low carbon resilient infrastructure development. This is how we mobilise private sector capital into climate finance in our markets.”

One of the projects that PIDG has worked on in recent times that it points to the above assertions is Project Spiro where GuarantCo – part of the PIDG group of companies – provided a 70% partial credit guarantee of a $63 million XOF equivalent loan to support the financing of 21,000 electric vehicles, 31,400 batteries and 1,000 swap stations in Togo and Benin.

The project will enable an increase in income generation for 21,000 drivers. This project achieved a climate bonus point as it contributes towards the development of the EV sector in Togo and Benin.

While the most obvious climate-related benefit is avoided emissions (28k tCO2e), the investment supports improvements to climate resilience as well. The switch from ICE bicycles to EVs will see a reduction in local air pollutants, particularly NOx.

Urban communities will benefit from reduced air pollution as the model scales up. At an economy-wide level, reduced fuel dependence is likely to improve trade balances and frees up economic budget.

And then there was Biovea – a biomass plant in Cote D’Ivoire – where EAIF (part of the PIDG) mobilised $64.5 million of private sector Investment.

The project was supported by PIDG TA providing $9.5 million of viability gap funding (VGF) to enable the project to reach financial close. Some 12,000 outgrowers are expected to benefit from an increase in income generation and 743,000 consumers are expected to benefit from improved access to electricity.

This project achieved a climate bonus point as it contributes significantly to climate mitigation with an expected avoided emission impact of 120k tCO2e per year.

The grid in Cote D’Ivoire is dominated by thermal power and this project – the first biomass IPP in the country – supports the energy transition to a low carbon renewable energy source.

It creates an additional market for farmers to sell a waste product, providing socio economic benefits via diversified and secondary revenues in a sector that is highly vulnerable to climate related impacts and stresses.

Finally, the submission points to CEC Renewables where EAIF provided cornerstone investment for the first green bond issuance on the Lusaka Securities Exchange.

The bond complied with ICMA green bond principles, mobilising $25.5 million of private sector investment into a project support climate mitigation objectives in Zambia.

The project will facilitate the delivery and operation 94.1MW of renewable energy, with an estimated avoided emissions impact equivalent to 63.6k tCO2e and a benefit felt by 105k consumers.