African Development Bank Approves $5.65 Million to Pilot New Climate Finance Tool For Off-Grid Energy In Fragile States

ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire, The African Development Bank Group has approved a $5.65 million reimbursable grant from its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa to launch a first-of-its-kind climate finance mechanism aimed at accelerating off-grid renewable energy projects in Africa’s most fragile and underserved markets.

The funding will support the Peace Renewable Energy Certificate (P-REC) Aggregation Facility, an initiative designed to use renewable energy certificates as a direct financing tool for mini-grid developers operating in conflict-affected and energy-poor regions. The facility is co-financed by the Nordic Development Fund, which has matched the Bank’s contribution, bringing total funding to $11.3 million.

The facility will be managed by Camco Clean Energy in partnership with Energy Peace Partners, the developer of the P-REC standard. Under the model, renewable energy certificates generated by small-scale mini-grid projects will be sold to multinational corporations seeking to align sustainability spending with measurable social and environmental outcomes.

The mechanism will provide upfront payments to developers in exchange for future certificate rights, improving access to capital in markets where financing remains scarce. The facility will then sell the certificates to corporate buyers, generating hard-currency revenues for developers.

Projects supported by the initiative will span 14 countries, including Nigeria, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, among others. The program is expected to deliver first-time electricity access to approximately 856,000 people through around 240,000 new connections and 71 megawatts of renewable energy capacity. About half of the beneficiaries are expected to be women.

The initiative aligns with Mission 300, a joint effort by the African Development Bank and the World Bank to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.

Bank officials said the facility addresses a critical financing gap for rural electrification in fragile states. By converting corporate demand for climate action into upfront capital, the mechanism is expected to unlock new private-sector investment in distributed renewable energy.

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