GVEP International has just published a Policy Briefing on innovative finance mechanisms and how they could be used to scale up investments in low carbon technologies in Africa. The two case studies examined were presented at a DFID sponsored policy conference at Chatham House in London on 28th January.

Large investments will need to be made to get developing countries energyThe ability to perform work, mainly kinetic, potential, thermal energy, but also in forms of gravitational, sound, elastic and electromagnetic energy. systems on a different track than the one the industrialised countries have followed if the problem of climate changeClimate change is a lasting change in weather patterns over long periods of time. It can be a natural phenomena and and has occurred on Earth even before people inhabited it. Quite different is a current situation that is also referred to as climate change, anthropogenic climate change, or ... is to be tackled. The sums required cannot be met by the public sector alone. Private sector investment in renewable energyRenewable energy is power generated from infinite sources, such as wind or solar power. Conventional energy is generated from finite sources, such as natural gas or fossil oil. technologies in developing countries will need to be facilitated and increased. At the same time, discussions on aid effectiveness are influencing the debate on financing development.

Thus the British Department for International Development (DFID) is scoping opportunities to make use of innovative finance possibilities for low-carbon development. As part of a larger work programme for DFID, GVEP International was invited to a high-level policy conference at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) to present its ideas how the concept of Advance Market Commitments could be translated into practical action.

Advance Market Commitments are a concept coming from the health sector, where it helped to bring forward vaccine development and production in developing countries. The aim of the conference was to discuss how the concept could be applied to stimulate action on low carbon innovation and energy investment in developing countries.

GVEP International has discussed the issue in a Policy Briefing describing how Advance Market Commitments could help to scale up sustainable biomassEnergy resources derived from organic matter. These include wood, agricultural waste and other living-cell material that can be burned to produce heat energy. They also include algae, sewage and other organic substances that may be used to make energy through chemical processes.
Biomass, a ... energy technologies in Africa, focusing on briquettes and Earth Bricks.