02
Message from the CEO
02
Message from the CEO
With every year that passes, the need for sustainable development and urgent climate action becomes more evident as the worrying effects of climate change and inequality play out in real time all around us.
Addressing the climate challenge presents an historic investment opportunity, but in the wake of the pandemic and rising global conflicts the world has been facing economic headwinds, with more scarcity in public funding. Many climate and impact investors are reneging on their impact pledges as a result, just as we need them strengthened.
But while it might be easy to feel pessimistic, we remain optimistic. For it is only by being optimistic that we will be able to come up with the proactive solutions and collective action that we need.
This report sets out Camco’s progress towards driving transformational change in the world’s emerging markets as a climate and impact fund manager. Our story is just one of many uplifting examples of sustainable development and positive climate action occurring right now across the planet that, combined, serve as a genuine cause for optimism and a reminder that a brighter future for all is within our grasp.
Looking back at 2023, it was a very eventful year for Camco, with many major achievements and milestones met. I will start with where the year ended, which was with the UK government-funded Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) reaching the conclusion of its investment period on 31 December.
Camco has managed REPP since it was set up in 2015 to accelerate Sub-Saharan Africa’s transition to a more sustainable pathway. Over that time, REPP’s investments have led to nearly 1.4 million people being connected to electricity for the first time, with 308MW of renewable energy capacity funded that will lead to 10m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions being mitigated over the lifetime of the current portfolio. As we shift our focus to portfolio management and exits, REPP leaves behind the foundations for a vibrant, networked and viable decentralised renewable energy market in Africa.
“It is only by being optimistic that we will be able to come up with the proactive solutions and collective action that we need.”
“It is only by being optimistic that we will be able to come up with the proactive solutions and collective action that we need.”
During 2023, we focused our fundraising efforts on REPP 2, a USD 250m private debt fund focused on renewable energy investments in Africa that builds on the legacy of REPP, and which is structured as a blended finance facility. I am delighted to say that in October our efforts began to pay off with the Green Climate Fund approving the allocation of USD 50m in junior equity to the fund. This itself followed the REPP Board’s approval for an investment of up to USD 50m from REPP into REPP 2, meaning REPP 2 ended the year with combined junior equity commitments of up to USD 100m, keeping our plans to reach first close in 2024 on track.
More good news for REPP 2 followed in December, when we secured USD 5m funding from Norad for a dedicated technical assistance facility for the fund. The new facility has been designed to unlock the fund's project pipeline by addressing both the financial and non-financial barriers that are currently slowing down investments in the African grid of the future. We created it as part of a new market development focus by Camco that complements our investment activities to deliver broader transformational impact.
In other news, we enjoyed further fundraising success with Spark Energy Services (Spark), the innovative finance platform we created to support the deployment of captive generation and energy efficiency in Africa’s commercial and industrial sector. By the year’s end we had secured almost USD 25m in debt and equity commitments as we progress plans towards making Spark a USD 100m platform.
We hope you will enjoy finding out more about these and other interesting developments at Camco during 2023 in this report. Looking to the rest of 2024 and beyond, I feel excited by what’s in store for the company and its stakeholders as we continue our work to invest in sustainable development and positive climate action in emerging markets.
