Spark’s activities directly support the provision of clean, affordable and reliable power in the region, thereby facilitating economic growth and job creation and allowing businesses to rebuild and grow in a more sustainable manner post-Covid 19.

The unreliability and restricted reach of grid electricity in many African countries has led to more than 50% of businesses in the region relying on diesel generation as either a backup or as a primary source of power. Not only do these generators emit harmful levels of environmental pollutants, they are also extremely expensive to operate, with the average cost of running a diesel generator between 1.5 to 4 times more expensive per kWh than grid alternatives.

Through partnering with and building the capacity of DPs, Spark seeks to increase the deployment of technically and commercially viable alternatives that exist in the form of captive renewable energy generation and energy efficiency within the region’s C&I sector. This leads to inclusive and sustainable economic growth, shifting developing countries towards a net zero and climate-resilient pathway.

Through its combined investment and technical assistance offering, Spark contributes to the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• SDG 7: Spark activities support universal clean and affordable energy access by assisting local C&I businesses in becoming more sustainable through investment in innovative renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions.
• SDG 8: Spark activities promote sustainable, inclusive economic growth through supporting the diversification and technological upgrading of C&I companies (target 8.2) and creating decent work opportunities through its DPs (target 8.5).
• SDG 9: Spark supports building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and fostering innovation, by providing access to finance for small-scale industrial and other enterprises so that they can adopt clean technologies to make themselves more sustainable and resource-efficient (targets 9.4 and 9.5).
• SDG 13: Spark is taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts by decoupling economic growth and carbon emissions and supporting the implementation of countries’ climate policies through additional funding (targets 13.2 and 13.a).