Building Bankability: Strengthening Project Preparation to Lower the Cost of Climate Capital in Africa
Overview
Africa faces the highest cost of capital globally, a reality that severely constrains the continent’s ability to finance climate-aligned projects. Projects in renewable energy, water and sustainable transport face systemic financing hurdles rooted in perceived high risk, limited early-stage capital, and underdeveloped local capital markets.
This session will directly support the ACS strategic pillar of “Unlocking Scalable Climate Finance” by unpacking the structural and perception-driven barriers inflating Africa’s risk premium. It will unpack the limits of concessional finance and guarantees and propose concrete measures to rebalance risk, accelerate deal timelines and scale up investable climate assets. Bringing together DFIs, rating agencies, African policymakers and private sector actors, the session aims to drive forward coordinated solutions that make Africa’s green transition bankable.
In partnership with:FSD Ethiopia and others under discussion: S&P Global, Moody’s, Lion’s Head Global Partners, Africa50, AfDB, Gridworks, EBRD
Principal Specialist, Sustainable Finance – FSD Africa (Moderator)
Jemima Gathumi
Lead, Programmes (Moderator)
Objectives
The session aims to:
To identify actionable levers to reduce the cost of capital for African climate projects by unlocking early-stage risk-tolerant capital, addressing risk perception and information gaps, and accelerating the pipeline of investable climate-aligned projects.
