- This partnership will provide measurable carbon finance to impactful solar off-grid deployments throughout the marginalised areas of the world where ENGIE Energy Access operates.
- A landmark partnership was signed today to foster sustainable development and access to energy financing in Africa through the Voluntary Carbon Markets.
ENGIE Energy Access, one of the leading off-grid providers in Africa, ENGIE Global Energy Management & Sales (GEMS)- the energy management and sales division of the ENGIE Group, and CarbonClear – a data-driven and innovative carbon offset certification company, now partner in a pioneering agreement to accelerate the use of climate finance by the off-grid sector in sub-Saharan Africa through issuing and selling data-driven and impactful carbon credits. Under the terms of the agreement, CarbonClear will be using its innovative and fully digital model to certify the carbon offset generated from the solar kits distributed by ENGIE Energy Access to rural and off-grid communities living in sub-Saharan Africa.
Steven Fleurus, Head of Finance at ENGIE Energy Access, said, “Carbon credits are an important lever to optimise the affordability of our products. We are therefore excited that the partnership with CarbonClear will enable us to mobilise additional climate finance and accelerate our growth.” This timely initiative responds to an emergency. Due to the Covid crisis and demographic evolution, the number of people living without electricity is worsening, impacting 600 million people in Africa alone. As such, the World Energy Outlook estimates that an additional 26 billion dollars per year are required to meet SDG 7.
The recently launched Africa Carbon Market Initiative (ACMI) during COP27 highlighted the important role the Voluntary Carbon Market could and should play in addressing this situation. It builds on the observation that access to energy companies face significant difficulties in mobilising funding from the VCM due to inadequate validation and certification methodologies and particularly long lead times.