As the world convened for the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) underscored its commitment to drive tangible action in green energy access and transition across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
GEAPP is committed to the outcomes of the summit with a determined focus on tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030. At COP28, GEAPP proudly partnered on the following initiatives:
GEAPP’s Global Leadership Council announced that India, Barbados, Belize, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Togo will join the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Consortium, with Indonesia showing strong interest. Through the BESS Consortium, these first-mover countries form part of a collaborative effort to secure 5 gigawatts of BESS commitments by the end of 2024, with deployment by the end of 2027.
Commenting on India joining the BESS Consortium, Saurabh Kumar, Vice President – India, GEAPP, said, “As we tackle escalating energy needs, a global shift to renewable energy demands collaboration among governments, researchers, and private investors. The BESS Consortium is an example of GEAPP’s firm belief in the power of collaborative actions and partnerships to achieve a people-positive energy transition. The expansion of BESS is crucial to bring down the current high cost of resolving the issue of intermittency and lead to accelerated RE integration. It would also help fast-track innovative regulations that will unlock the value streams on batteries and provide much-needed balancing support to the grid. This would positively impact the demand for RE, which is imperative for a Net Zero future.”
A $15 million investment on top of existing deployments to expand the Demand Aggregation for Renewable Technology (DART) program. DART has already reduced solar equipment costs by up to 30% in Nigeria and supports the commissioning of the largest isolated mini grid project in Benue State with a $1 million grant. This 350KW mini grid will deliver reliable power to over 7,000 households and businesses in Benue State’s Chito Community, catalyzing community transformation and empowerment.
ADB, GEAPP, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced their intent to establish a blended finance partnership to accelerate energy transition at scale in Asia. The energy transition acceleration finance partnership aims to mobilise up to $2 billion in concessional and commercial capital from the philanthropic and public sectors and crowd-in private capital from around the globe to finance and de-risk energy transition projects.
GEAPP will support Acumen’s ‘Hardest-to-Reach,’ a blended finance initiative that will deploy $250 million to energize clean energy markets in Africa’s least served regions.
GEAPP’s second impact report, ‘Powering People and Planet’ provided an update on progress estimating that GEAPP’s activities have averted 147 MT of CO2e emissions, connected 1.2 million people to new or improved energy systems, and created over 600,000 new jobs. The report digs into future plans and lessons learned, acknowledging the urgency of the climate crisis, with its wide-ranging impacts on global agriculture, livelihoods, and people, necessitates immediate, practical action.
GEAPP recognizes the opportunity provided by convenings such as the Africa Climate Summit, Energy Transition Dialogues, and Latin American Energy Week and the IRENA Investment Forum to usher a critical transformation of the energy landscape. COP28 was the culmination of a great year of progress on GEAPP initiatives in collaboration with alliance partners.
Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway and Co-chair the Global Leadership Council said during the launch of the BESS Consortium, “The Global Leadership Council was formed to expedite change, and bring forward transformative initiatives that will cut emissions, create jobs and expand access to clean and affordable energy in low- and middle-income countries. Three months ago, we committed to establishing the BESS Consortium, and already we have countries, resource partners and champions on board. This is only the beginning, we must continue to move at collective speed and scale.’’
Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy said, “We cannot achieve net-zero emissions without tackling ongoing development challenges. The quickest way to economic growth is through energy access. At COP28 we have been inspired by the leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector who came together with GEAPP at the SDG7 Global South Pavilion to advance solutions that can close energy access gaps and achieve a truly just energy transition for all.”
Oscar A. Garcia, Chief Impact Officer at GEAPP said, “GEAPP was launched at COP26. Two years on our second impact report ‘Powering People and Planet’ is an honest, transparent, and unvarnished account of GEAPP’s impact to date based on the analysis of our portfolio, the impact dashboard, and the impressive work done at country level. It tells a compelling story of the progress made in the first two years and the great potential GEAPP has to effect meaningful change in the future.”
Joseph Nganga, Interim Managing Director and VP of Africa at GEAPP said, “Part of what makes COP so inspiring is the sheer reach and diversity of the delegates represented, ideas shared, and commitments made. But at GEAPP we remain singularly focused on one thing: to accelerate the green energy transition in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, tackling energy poverty and the climate crisis. These past two weeks have shown the incredible power of our alliance partnerships, working with country governments, technical and private sector partners, communities and young people. Together, we are determined to deliver scalable solutions and measurable outcomes at speed by the time we reconvene at COP29 next year.”
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About Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP):
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) is an alliance of philanthropy, governments in emerging and developed economies, and technology, policy, and financing partners. Our common mission is to enable LMIC’s shift to a clean energy, pro-growth model that accelerates universal energy access and inclusive economic growth, while supporting the global community to meet critical climate goals during the next decade. As an alliance, we aim to reduce four gigatons of future carbon emissions, expand clean energy access to one billion people, and enable 150 million new jobs. With philanthropic partners, IKEA Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Bezos Earth Fund, GEAPP works to build the enabling environment, capacity, and market conditions for private sector solutions, catalyze new business models through innovation and entrepreneurship, and deploy high-risk capital to encourage private sector solutions and assist just transition solutions.
