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As of May 24, 2022, 43 companies have committed USD 458 million across 48 countries to support the Zero Hunger Private Sector Pledge. The largest individual commitments come from Bayer (USD 160 million) and PepsiCo (USD 100 million), with significant regional focus on Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The Africa Sustainable Forestry Fund II (ASFFII) is a USD 150 million private equity fund managed by Criterion Africa Partners that invests in sustainable forestry value chains in Africa. The fund utilizes a blended equity structure comprising one commercial investor, Calvert Impact Capital, and five development finance institutions (DFIs): AfDB, BIO, EIB, FinDev, and FMO. ASFFII focuses on plantation rehabilitation, expansion, sustainable downstream manufacturing, and biomass, requiring investees to adhere to Forest Stewardship Council guidelines. The fund provides both mitigation and adaptation benefits through reforestation, sustainable harvesting, and conservation set-asides. Current investments are located in eSwatini, Gabon, South/Southern Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda, with Botswana, Kenya, and Rwanda identified as potential future markets.

AgDevCo utilizes concessional capital and technical assistance to develop commercially viable agri-businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa, exemplified by the establishment of Zambia's first commercial seed potato producer, Saise Farming Enterprises Ltd. The organization leverages a mix of private and DFI funding to de-risk investments and build climate-resilient agricultural value chains.

TCX addresses currency and interest risk in emerging and frontier markets by providing long-term fixed- and inflation-linked cross-currency and interest rate swaps. Since 2013, it has de-risked nearly USD 8.4 billion of external lending across 70 currencies. In 2020, Sub-Saharan Africa was the second most active region, representing 19% of de-risked finance (USD 187 million) across 18 countries. The model relies on high-credit-rated counterparties, such as development finance institutions, to manage credit risk and connect solutions to end-clients. While 70% of 2020 supported financing targeted microfinance and SMEs, infrastructure and renewable energy projects accounted for approximately 6%.

The document describes Cooling as a Service (CaaS) as a pay-per-service model that removes upfront costs for customers by having service providers own and maintain energy-efficient cooling equipment. It highlights the role of sale-leaseback arrangements with banks to scale financing and identifies Nigeria's ColdHubs as a practical application for solar-powered cold storage. The text also notes the importance of legal frameworks, national energy efficiency policies, and the potential for CaaS implementation in 21 countries that prioritized urban planning in their NDCs.

The Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise (ACRE) provides index insurance to smallholder farmers in Africa, utilizing mobile technology and solar-powered weather stations to trigger rapid payouts for yield loss. By 2018, the program insured over 1.7 million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda, covering crops such as maize and coffee against drought, storms, and excess rain. The model relies on a 50% premium subsidy shared between farmers and agribusiness partners, and leverages mobile money platforms like M-PESA to reduce operational costs and accelerate claims settlement. The document identifies critical success factors for scaling, including robust local climate data, progressive regulation, and the high adoption of mobile money across Africa.

This briefing examines the political and economic drivers of coal-fired power investment in 18 high-impact countries (HICs) with significant electricity access gaps, noting that international public finance dominates coal investment while domestic private finance leads in renewables.

The Smallholder Forestry Vehicle (SFV) is a financial mechanism that packages tree production partnership contracts from smallholder farmers to attract institutional investors. By separating asset risk from operating company risk, it lowers the cost of capital and reduces transaction costs. As of July 2020, Komaza had partnered with 25,000 farmers in Kenya and planted over 6 million trees, securing a USD 28 million Series B funding round from various impact investors and funds.

The ARIES for SEEA Explorer is an AI-powered, open-source tool that enables rapid, standardized, and customizable natural capital accounting globally. By utilizing machine reasoning and a semantic web of data, it allows National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and other users to generate ecosystem accounts for any terrestrial area, reducing technical barriers for data-scarce countries while allowing for local customization. The tool supports monitoring for the SDGs, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

The document details ten significant court cases across ten different countries—China, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Belgium, Finland, Australia, Tanzania, the Philippines, and India—where legal action successfully protected habitats or species. These cases highlight the application of the precautionary principle, the recognition of the 'rights of nature', and the use of public interest litigation to challenge government inaction or illegal industrial activities. Key outcomes include the halting of a hydroelectric dam in China, the liability of landowners for illegal deforestation in Brazil, and the reintroduction of Asiatic lions in India.

The document details ten significant legal cases across various countries—including China, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Belgium, Finland, Australia, Tanzania, the Philippines, and India—where courts intervened to protect biodiversity. Key legal strategies highlighted include the application of the precautionary principle, the recognition of nature as a legal subject (rights of nature), the use of public interest litigation, and the enforcement of international treaties like CITES and the EU Habitats Directive. These cases range from stopping hydroelectric projects to protect the green peacock in China and banning neonicotinoid pesticides to save bees in Costa Rica, to mandating the reintroduction of Asiatic lions in India.

The document analyzes coal finance in 18 high-impact countries (HICs) with significant electricity access gaps. It finds that while global coal investment is declining, finance persists in HICs, largely driven by Chinese state-owned institutions and a few South Asian nations. The report argues that coal is misaligned with Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) due to long development timelines and high infrastructure costs, contrasting this with the efficiency of distributed renewable energy. It highlights the risk of stranded assets in Bangladesh and Pakistan and the operational hurdles facing coal in Africa, concluding that a shift toward renewables and finance-based carbon accounting is necessary to achieve net-zero goals.

The Smallholder Resilience Fund (SRF) is a proposed blended finance mechanism and venture studio aimed at bridging the $65 billion financing gap for agricultural SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa. By employing a 'synchronized investment' strategy—providing equity, debt, and working capital across entire value chains—the SRF seeks to de-risk investments and enable smallholders to diversify into climate-smart, high-value crops. The initiative, proposed by One Acre Fund, will pilot in Rwanda's avocado value chain with a $4.2 million grant requirement to catalyze an estimated $50-100 million in total capital over ten years, aiming to increase the annual income of over 100,000 farmers by approximately 15%.

The document analyzes the multidimensional relationship between China and West Africa, highlighting significant asymmetries in trade and foreign direct investment. It identifies health cooperation, economic recovery, regional integration, and debt restructuring as primary priorities for the FOCAC 8 summit. The author argues that West African nations should move beyond bilateral opportunism toward a strategic regional approach led by ECOWAS, incorporating non-state actors and civil society to address concerns over transparency, debt sustainability, and environmental impacts.

The document analyzes coal finance in 18 high-impact countries (HICs) in South Asia and Africa, highlighting that while global trends shift toward renewables, significant coal investment persists, largely driven by Chinese state-owned institutions. It argues that coal is an inefficient path to universal electricity access compared to distributed renewables and warns of stranded asset risks, citing overcapacity in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The document introduces the Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) methodology, a simulation-based tool designed to calculate environmental, social, governance, and climate risks, as well as externalities in infrastructure projects. It details the three-pronged modelling approach—system dynamics, project finance, and spatially explicit models—to provide a more comprehensive cost-benefit analysis than traditional financial valuations. The report provides sector-specific examples (energy, buildings, roads, wastewater, irrigation, and natural infrastructure) and outlines how these modules can be integrated into Indonesia's Vision 2045 (IV2045) system dynamics model to bridge top-down national strategy with bottom-up project implementation.

The assessment finds that the Kakono Hydropower Plant (HPP) is the most sustainable and cost-effective energy option for northwestern Tanzania, demonstrating high climate resilience and the highest net societal benefits. Compared to a utility-scale diesel plant and a gas-solar PV portfolio, the HPP offers the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and the most attractive net present value (NPV), particularly when environmental and social externalities are internalized. While the HPP causes some habitat loss and carbon emissions during construction and reservoir operation, these are offset by significant employment generation and the avoidance of high fossil fuel emissions. The report concludes that the HPP is a viable investment for multilateral banks like the African Development Bank, provided that mitigation strategies for GHG emissions and habitat loss are implemented.

The Powering Healthcare Solutions Catalogue provides a directory of companies offering off-grid energy systems and medical appliances for low-income regions. It highlights a variety of technical solutions, including plug-and-play systems, containerized microgrids, and solar-powered medical equipment, aimed at improving healthcare delivery in areas with unreliable electricity, such as Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

The proposal outlines a 36-month project to address Tanzania's vulnerability to climate risks through three main outcomes: strengthening adaptation planning governance and institutional coordination, enhancing the evidence base for adaptation solutions, and developing a validated National Adaptation Plan (NAP). The project aims to overcome barriers such as limited vertical and horizontal coordination, a lack of comprehensive vulnerability data, and the absence of a dedicated adaptation financing strategy. Key activities include conducting vulnerability assessments across eight priority sectors, establishing a climate information portal, and developing three GCF concept notes for priority adaptation measures. The total requested budget is 2,986,412 USD, with implementation led by the UNDP in coordination with the Vice President's Office.

The report examines the state of women's entrepreneurship in Africa, contrasting the 'market women' in the informal sector with a small cadre of successful formal entrepreneurs. It criticizes South Africa's proposed Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill, arguing that enforced numerical parity is an ineffective approach to empowerment. Instead, the author advocates for improving general business environments, prioritizing girls' education, and reforming laws regarding property and inheritance rights to support all entrepreneurs.