G7 Endorses joint EIB & AllianzGI Initiative Financing Climate Projects

During its summit in Elmau (Germany), the Group of Seven (G7) endorsed the Emerging Market Climate Action Fund (EMCAF) as an example of a concrete innovative, and market-led approach to mobilize private investments for climate-relevant infrastructure and enhancing multilateral finance and collaboration. In addition, Germany announced to increase in their investment in the fund.

EMCAF is an innovative blended finance fund initiated jointly by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) to finance climate mitigation and adaptation as well as environmental projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

EMCAF aligns with the G7’s ambitious agenda to Build Back Better for the World and urgently narrow the infrastructure investment gap in developing countries, which was adopted at the last meeting in Cornwall, England in June 2021.  G7 members are committed to financing high-quality and sustainable infrastructure that ensures a strong recovery from the pandemic and rapid progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals as well as international climate and environmental commitments.

EIB President Werner Hoyer said: “The war in Ukraine is the strongest possible argument for greening our economies and accelerating our independence from fossil fuels. At the same time, this decade is critical to addressing the climate crisis. To do so, we must mobilize trillions of private capital for climate action projects. We welcome the G7 endorsement of the Emerging Market Climate Action Fund (EMCAF) that we set up and implement jointly with Allianz Global Investors. The EIB stands ready to work with countries and financial institutions through EMCAF to accelerate financing for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects globally.“

Tobias Pross, CEO of AllianzGI added: “The past year truly shone a light on the challenges facing the planet and the urgency with which we must face them. It also revealed the profound inequalities and the funding shortfall needed to answer these challenges, in particular in emerging countries. Collaborative action will be vital to develop the right solutions, and we are delighted to see the G7 support our joint initiative for financing climate transition”.

Launched during COP26 in November 2021 by the EIB and AllianzGI, EMCAF is a target EUR 600 million innovative blended finance vehicle, with the Governments of Germany and Luxembourg, the Nordic Development Fund, Allianz, Folksam Group, and EIB as its anchor investors.  EMCAF provides early-stage financing to greenfield climate transition infrastructure in emerging and developing markets and focuses on climate mitigation, climate adaptation, and environmental projects. The Fund aspires to become a flagship impact investing initiative, mobilizing substantial amounts of private capital to get climate action projects off the ground in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. EMCAF has already made its first investment in ARCH Cold Chain Solutions East Africa Fund, a strategy financing temperature-controlled storage and distribution infrastructure in East Africa that targets, among others, to generate emission reduction from post-harvest food loss.

Background information

The European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union and is owned by the EU Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute toward EU policy goals both in Europe and beyond. The European Investment Bank is active in around 160 countries and is the world’s largest multilateral lender for climate action projects. The EIB Group has recently adopted its Climate Bank Roadmap to deliver on its ambitious agenda to support €1 trillion of climate action and environmental sustainability investments in the decade to 2030 and to deliver more than 50% of EIB finance for climate action and environmental sustainability by 2025. Also, as part of the Roadmap, from the start of 2021, all new EIB Group operations will be aligned with the goals and principles of the Paris Agreement.

Allianz Global Investors:

Allianz Global Investors is a leading active asset manager with over 700 investment professionals in 24 offices worldwide and managing EUR 637 billion in assets. We invest for the long term and seek to generate value for clients every step of the way. We do this by being active – in how we partner with clients and anticipate their changing needs, and build solutions based on capabilities across public and private markets. Our focus on protecting and enhancing our clients’ assets leads naturally to a commitment to sustainability to drive positive change. Our goal is to elevate the investment experience for clients, whatever their location or objectives.