Blended finance in clean energy: experiences and opportunities
The combined challenges of energy access and climate change present major needs for clean energy investment. The Paris Agreement and United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, negotiated in 2015, represented an inflection point for moving from talk to action in order to address two of the world’s most important challenges. The objective is clear: mobilize investment to meet the goal of limiting global warming to, at most, 2 degrees Celsius while also bringing electricity to the more than 1 billion people globally who do not yet have access to it. This report looks at what is needed to unlock investment opportunities in developing economies that are still catching up. Evaluated, by geography and clean energy sector, the most significant opportunities for impact on both climate change and energy access per dollar invested; the risks and barriers that prevent investment; and how blended finance could be deployed to address investor needs.