Fifteen innovative low-carbon projects from across South Africa have been announced as the second cohort of projects for Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) South Africa support, following a call for proposals that attracted 166 applications.

The chosen projects come from the energy; transportation; agriculture, forestry and other land uses (Afolu); circular economy; and water sectors.

They will receive tailored one-to-one and group support to help increase their chances of securing finance from South African and international investors. This follows a successful first round in 2021 that has so far seen almost a third of projects find new partners and  investors.

The CFA is part of the UK government’s investment into South Africa's transition to a low carbon economy.

To ensure the projects are in the best position to attract investment from financiers, they will receive capacity building support in blending finance from public and private sources, advice on financial models and pitch material, as well as advice on enhancing gender equality and social inclusion.

Following the capacity building and mentoring sessions, the project owners will meet with investors and financial institutions at a workshop in early 2023.

This will allow project developers to further refine their financial structuring through personalised discussions with interested financial institutions. The event will also provide an opportunity for participants to network and for policymakers and others involved in the climate finance space to learn from the insights and recommendations of the CFA landscape mapping.

The selected projects are:

*Alien Fuel Group is a solution to use biomass (derived from alien invasive tree species and wood waste) as a 'green' fuel.

*Blue North Sustainability - SHERPA is a cloud-based sustainability management system that supports agriculture and food businesses (from farmers to retailers) to develop, implement and report on sustainability strategies.

*The "grow a car" project is part of the recently established Natural Fibre Hub, a collaborative initiative between the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the Coega Development Corporation. A hemp-based industry is being developed in the Eastern Cape that will enable the formation of a full value chain, from farmers through to the development of high-value products for, amongst others, the local automotive industry.

*Flx EV is aimed at introducing electric minibus taxis to help decarbonise South Africa’s primary public transport mode. Electric minibus taxis will be supplied via a financing model that is affordable and scalable. Flx EV is also developing charging facilities in minibus taxis ranks to optimize vehicle performance.

*Green Riders seeks to disrupt the last-mile delivery market in Southern Africa by replacing petrol and diesel driven motorbikes with e-bikes and e-motorbikes that are environment friendly, cost-effective and custom-made for  African conditions.

*The Good Company democratises smart food production by means of automated and distributed vertical urban farms, managed by communities in co-operative nodes across cities, towns and rural areas.

*LiquidGold Africa - The City Scale nutrient and water plant is expected to become the largest urine diversion and nutrient recovery project in the world.

*Mustapha Energy is scaling up its flagship project in Athlone, which will use proven technology to convert industrial and municipal wastes into value, furthering the circular economy.

*NutrientLoop is a cost innovator in the fast-growing market of insect protein for the animal feed market. The company has developed growing technology enabling it to reduce the cost of production for top-quality outputs at scale.

*Nutri Humus diverts organic waste from landfill and converts it into high-quality inputs for agriculture and horticulture.

*Plentify enables cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy. This is done this via HotBot, an award-winning load management platform that connects home appliances into virtual power plants to intelligently shift demand away from peak times and towards times when renewable energy is available, saving users and utilities money.

*SAMANJALO is based in Mpumalanga, home to 70% of South Africa’s coal-fired power stations, and recycles coal waste to produce environment-friendly products.

*SeaH4 - IPioneering is a consumer-ready carbon-neutral alternative to fossil fuels. SeaH4 uses algae to catalyse ocean-dissolved carbon dioxide and the energy of the African sun into biofuel at scale.

*Solar Turtle is a socially oriented business that has been developing solar solutions to assist with job creation in informal communities since 2016.

*Westore is building Africa’s first energy storage leasing platform. The platform will enable anyone to buy energy storage capacity assets through a cryptocurrency crowdsale.