The Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) South Africa has announced 13 innovative low-carbon projects that it will support in accessing finance from investors following a call for proposals that attracted 120 applications.

The CFA is part of the UK government’s efforts to help South Africa tackle climate change and support a just transition.

Projects in the CFA span across a range of sectors including waste management, energy and transport.

To ensure the selected projects are in the best position to attract investment from South African and international financiers, the projects will receive capacity building support in areas such as low-carbon technologies, blending finance from public and private sources, as well as advice on enhancing gender equality and social inclusion.

If funding is secured, the projects will benefit communities across South Africa through pollution abatement, employment opportunities, access to energy, water conservation, improved food safety, and by supporting gender equality and social inclusion efforts.

Acting British High Commissioner to South Africa Adam Bye said that, to help South Africa deliver on its Nationally Determined Contribution by 2030 and net zero ambitions by mid-century, “every sector of the economy will need to develop low-carbon alternatives”.

“The CFA’s support is all about helping unlock the finance that these and other innovative projects will need as part of delivering green growth and transition.”

National Business Institute CEO Joanne Yawitch, meanwhile, said South Africa’s climate commitments in the lead-up to COP26 “show an enhanced level of ambition, which the private sector can help deliver through the activation of domestic and international finance”.

This commitment, she added, would enable the realisation of investment potential in South Africa through the active support of climate projects and small, medium-sized and microenterprises, thereby ensuring the country’s transition is just, inclusive and economically competitive.  

Yawtich is also a commissioner on the South African Presidential Climate Change Commission.

The projects have been receiving tailored support ahead of a four-day event at the end of October.

The support, so far, has included individual needs assessment discussions and analysis of each of the projects from financial and technical perspectives.

The October event will allow project proponents to further refine their financial structuring through tailored discussions with interested financial institutions. The event will also provide an opportunity for all participants to network and for policymakers and other initiatives in the climate finance space to learn from the landscape mapping findings and recommendations.