In partnership with the Global Solar Council.
Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs) stand at a crucial crossroads, facing the dual challenge of meeting growing energy and development needs while aligning with global climate goals. With 775 million people still lacking access to electricity and 2.4 billion people without clean cooking fuels, how these nations navigate their energy transitions will have profound implications for both their development and the world’s climate goals.
Despite significant strides forward at global level, the current level of clean energy investment (predominantly in renewables) in EMDEs stands at around USD 262 billion annually (IEA 2023), or only 15% of global clean energy investments (IRENA, COP28, GRA, 2023) and falls far short of what’s required. For these countries to align with the Paris Agreement, investment must rise dramatically to USD 2.2-2.8 trillion per year by the early 2030s. Achieving this will require not only public funding but also a vast increase in private sector involvement, which must grow from its current levels to at least USD 0.9-1.1 trillion annually (IEA 2023).
During the roundtable discussion on “Scaling up public and private renewable energy finance” at the September 2024 Global Renewables Summit in New York, key actors from governments, international organizations, and the private sector identified barriers and enablers to unlock renewable energy finance to EMDE’s. Above all, they recognized their crucial and urgent role to jointly work towards directing financial flows where they are needed the most. Alongside the GRA Financing 3xRenewables Advisory Group, they align on the fact that we need to work towards lowering barriers for financing to EMDE’s.
Furthermore, with the current progress observed in the IRENA/GRA/COP29 tracking report, it is clear that financing has yet to hit its mark, as well as being currently too low, and is not scaling anywhere near fast enough to 2030 in EMDE’s. More action is necessary to meet the growing need for renewable energy in these regions. The report provides policy recommendations for unlocking finance to EMDE’s, which echo the recommendations and objectives of the GRA Policy Agenda.
To culminate these concerns, this COP29 event, “Time for Action: Unblocking Financial Flows to the Global South and Emerging Markets,” will explore the pathways to mobilize the necessary capital for the clean energy transition in EMDEs. The panel discussion will focus on key strategies to reduce investment risks, scale concessional finance, and, for the first time, discuss the equity & debt needs for renewable energy by region – encouraging a more focussed debate about what industry will need to unlock the volume of finance required from debt and equity markets in different regions and the role of different stakeholders.