Climate Investor One

This case study describes Climate Investor One, an investment initiative proposed by the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) to accelerate renewable energy projects in developing countries by integrating development, construction, and refinancing facilities.

• Climate Investor One addresses barriers to renewable energy in developing countries—such as lack of expertise, high construction debt costs, and difficulty attracting investors—by combining three investment facilities targeting the wind, solar, and hydro sectors.
• The initiative utilizes a three-stage financial structure: a Development Fund using donor contributions to cover up to 50% of early costs to improve bankability; a Construction Fund providing up to 75% of investment costs via a three-tier risk/return structure; and a Re-financing Fund that takes up to 50% of long-term debt for projects in commercial operation.
• In June 2017, Climate Investor One reached a first close of USD 412 million with backing from Dutch entities (DGIS, Atradius Dutch State Business, NWB Bank, Aegon Asset Management, and FMO) and partners from Norway, South Africa, and the UK.
• A pilot program aimed to finance nine projects to deploy 300 MW of capacity and reduce annual emissions by 600ktCO2, with projections that these projects would cost 7-21% less in capital and provide electricity at 9-18% lower cost to consumers than typical projects.
• Climate Investor One targets projects in low and lower middle income countries with an average size of 25-75 MW or a total investment cost between USD 80-100 million, with a goal to mobilize at least USD 2 billion in new private finance by 2020.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2015). Climate Investor One. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/lab-instrument-analysis-climate-investor-one/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Climate Investor One. 2015. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/lab-instrument-analysis-climate-investor-one/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Climate Investor One |date=13 April 2015 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/lab-instrument-analysis-climate-investor-one/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2015climate, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Climate Investor One}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2015}, month = apr, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/lab-instrument-analysis-climate-investor-one/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }