Climate Finance Accelerator Phase 2 – Uganda

The Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) is a global technical assistance program funded by the UK government to directly support climate projects to access finance. The CFA operates in ten countries (Colombia, Egypt, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Pakistan, South Africa, Türkiye, Uganda, and Viet Nam) with the aim of encouraging the flows of finance required to deliver on countries’ ambition to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

CFA Uganda Phase 1 was implemented from October 2023 to March 2024 with eight projects selected from a wide range of sectors. The selected projects received support and training from technical, financial and gender equality and social inclusion experts. An event in Kampala in March 2024 connected project developers, financiers and investors, government representatives, and other stakeholders.

CFA Uganda Phase 2 will run from June 2024 to February 2025. 6-8 low-carbon projects will be selected from sectors including energy, water, smart agriculture, clean transport, waste management, forestry, and circular economy. Project developers will receive capacity building training and will be connected with potential investors.

The CFA program will hold an event with City of London financiers in London in December 2024.

The Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) Program in Uganda

The second phase of the CFA in Uganda will:

• Source a cohort of 6-8 climate projects or businesses that are seeking investment
• Deliver tailored capacity building to the projects with a focus on enhancing their ability to access investment
• Convene events to bring the projects together with investors, and other relevant stakeholders in a series of project-investor workshops.

The objective of the second phase of the CFA in Uganda is to:

• Strengthen Uganda’s pipeline of bankable projects.
• Increase the flow of financing from Uganda, regional and London-based investors to green businesses, particularly SMEs, agri, and women-owned businesses.
• Strengthen enabling environment for green investment

Benefits of the Program

Capacity building
Project developers will gain valuable insights and develop capabilities to make projects attractive and ready for investors. This includes benchmarking projects against what a bankable / successful project looks like, gaining confidence in speaking to financiers, and learning how to structure project financing. Exchanges of best practices with other CFA countries will also be enabled.

Access to sources of finance
The CFA provides project developers greater opportunities to access finance by working directly with potential investors to understand their needs and develop their projects accordingly. Through the CFA’s reach, project developers have the opportunity to reach commercial and concessional investors, operating both nationally and internationally.

Building networks & raising profile
Project developers will have the opportunity to raise their profile and expand their network with stakeholders across the climate finance landscape, including local and international financiers, policy makers, researchers and other private sector organisations, in addition to a cohort of projects facing similar challenges. The network will provide project developers with long-lasting benefits to current and future low carbon opportunities.

Achieving ESG project objectives
The CFA supports projects to realize and communicate their positive impacts. The CFA has access to climate, sectoral and social impact specialists and can assist projects to support local and national climate ambitions, as well as helping to unlock co-benefits such as poverty reduction, improved gender equality and social inclusion, and tackling biodiversity loss.

Application Details: The type of projects the CFA can support

Candidate projects should:

• Be designed to achieve measurable climate mitigation outcomes in terms of direct or facilitated greenhouse gas emission reductions.
• Have a minimum total financing need of US$ 500,000.
• Be (at least) at the technical pre-feasibility stage of development.
• Have a business model that will generate commercially attractive returns in the long-term (although some element of concessional financing may be required initially).
• We strongly encourage projects that can demonstrate positive social impacts and how they contribute to furthering gender equality and social inclusion.

Climate Finance Accelerator Phase 2 – Uganda