Climate Investor One was conceived in 2014 and incubated by the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance.
The fund is looking to back twenty 30- to 60-megawatt projects in Africa, Latin America and Asia with up to $100 million each.
What’s new is a 20-year blended fund to finance the full cycle of renewable energy projects: from “first-loss” donor-based project development fund to scope projects with renewable developers; to an institutional capital-backed construction equity fund; through a debt fund to refinance operational projects based on yield and cash flows.
The intent is to provide start-to-finish financing in markets where coordinating financial structures is inefficient or impossible, Climate One’s Andrew Johnstone told ImpactAlpha.
The partnership between Dutch development bank FMO and South African fund manager Phoenix Infraworks closed on $412 million of a targeted $500 million, from Norwegian, South African and U.K. pension funds, Dutch public agencies and donors from the U.S. and Netherlands.
“The consistent response we got during the fundraise was ‘this doesn’t quite fit the box,’” Johnstone said. “That’s by design; nothing in climate change mitigation fits the box.”
