Sustainable Energy for All has mobilised $900 million in financial commitments to scale energy access and drive the clean energy transition, at its SEforALL Global Forum in Barbados.
The event, which took place in Bridgetown on 12 and 13 March, welcomed more than 1,300 industry representatives from more than 70 countries, with a view to accelerating clean energy investment and promoting sustainable development.
Financial commitments
Among the major commitments at the Forum, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and partners unveiled a $500 million Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) Fund to support mini-grids, solar home systems, and energy storage technologies in Nigeria.
Elsewhere, Allied Climate Partners introduced a $250 million ‘first loss equity’ fund to drive clean energy investments globally, along with a $130 million fund specifically for the Caribbean, while the European Union pledged $20 million in financing for mini-grid deployment in Sierra Leone.
Finally, the IKEA Foundation committed over €11 million to ZE-Gen, an initiative replacing fossil fuel generators with renewable alternatives in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Indo-Pacific region, while the Middle East Green Initiative’s ‘Forward7 Clean Cooking’ programme, in partnership with the Global electric Cooking Coalition (GeCCo), Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) and UK Aid, announced between $3.5 million and $5 million in funding to accelerate clean cooking adoption in Sierra Leone.
Regional strategies
A number of national and regional energy strategies were also launched, including a new Energy Transition and Investment Plan by host country Barbados, which aims to achieve net-zero by 2035, and Pakistan announcing a partnership with SEforALL to develop its own energy transition roadmap.
Commitments from Formula E, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) were also announced at the event.
The SEforALL Global Forum also saw the naming of the 2025 Energy Heroes Awards, with winners hailing from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Middle East and North Africa acknowledged for innovations that are helping to revolutionise the sustainable energy sector and their work in providing funding, technical capacity and technology to the sector. Read more here.
