Climate change is affecting communities and ecosystems around the world—but low-income countries experience the most devastating effects. DFC recognizes the grave challenges ahead but also the vast opportunities that ultimately will attract tens of trillions of dollars in investments across nearly every sector of the economy.
DFC has emerged as a distinct leader in strengthening U.S. climate finance and energy security. Our climate investments span a diversity of transactions big and small in industries including clean energy manufacturing, nature-based solutions, and food security and resilience.
Addressing challenges of this scale requires new and enduring sources of collaboration among the private sector, governments, and international organizations. This approach is integral to DFC’s core mission and remains one that, since our founding in 2019, we have been uniquely positioned to address.
Photo Credit: Dustin Haney
In May 2023, DFC provided more than $656 million in political risk insurance that enabled Ecuador to exchange $1.6 billion of its international bonds for a $656 million loan financed with the issuance of a Galapagos marine conservation-linked bond.
DFC participated in an equity investment in Husk Power Systems (Husk), alongside a consortium of investors, to help address this gap in low-carbon modern energy. With equity funding from DFC and additional debt, Husk plans to roll out 1,400 new mini-grids in India and Nigeria over the next five years. These mini-grids are projected to add 300,000 new connections—100,000, or one-third, of them micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)—while avoiding 350,000 tonnes of CO2. Husk will also continue to create new jobs, adding 2,500 positions as the company expands into new markets in Africa and Asia.
A $425 million loan from DFC to TP Solar Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited, will finance the construction and operation of a greenfield 4GW solar cell and 4GW solar module manufacturing facility in India. This investment will support India’s ambitious program to increase renewable energy generation while advancing the global energy transition to diversify supply.
DFC financing will enable Banyan Nation, an award-winning, vertically integrated plastics recycling company based in India, to expand and upgrade its facilities to more than triple production of circular plastic resins that can be used by a variety of industries, from car manufacturers to consumer goods, to replace the use of virgin plastics.
A DFC equity investment in TechMet Limited will support the development of a critical mineral mining facility in Piaui, Brazil that will produce nickel and cobalt suitable for lithium-ion batteries. DFC’s investment will also support the development of new technology and designs in processes that will advance more efficient and environmentally sensitive mining practices.
A DFC loan is helping The Urban Resilience Fund (TURF), a blended finance investment fund managed by Meridiam Group, invest in infrastructure projects that address the critical needs of urban population growth in Africa and Jordan.
DFC has committed to providing technical assistance funding to Hydrogène De France (HDF) to support the development of a portfolio of green hydrogen projects in Indonesia that would create economic opportunities for surrounding communities, reduce emissions, and increase energy security.
Photo Credit: Filip Milovac/Flickr Creative Commons
In collaboration with USAID, DFC will provide a $10 million loan portfolio guaranty to Conservation International Ventures LLC (CI Ventures) to mobilize investments designed to advance conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of critical ecosystems in Mexico, Colombia, and Peru.
DFC financing is supporting a 20 MW solar photovoltaic power plant and battery energy storage system developed by Golomoti JCM Solar Corporation Limited. As the first utility-scale plant in the region to use a battery storage system, the project is generating energy to the national grid for use by homes and businesses. Its capacity to store up to 10MW of energy will help reduce the country’s frequent blackouts.
A DFC loan is helping the InsuResilience Investment Fund work with financial institutions to develop and expand insurance to protect smallholder farmers and other climate-vulnerable populations against extreme weather and other natural disasters.
DFC financing is helping Forest First Colombia expand a sustainable forestry plantation in the Vichada Department, one of the country’s poorest regions. The project, which was originally developed in partnership with USAID Colombia, will help regenerate the land with at least 20 percent of the plantation dedicated to formal environmental conservation. Forest First uses a sustainable harvesting approach that is projected to sequester more than three million tons of carbon equivalent over 10 years.
A DFC investment guaranty to Smart RJ Concessionária de Iluminação Pública SPE S.A. (Smart Rio) will support the modernization and maintenance of public lighting systems in Rio de Janeiro. Once fully implemented, the project anticipates a reduction of between 120,000 and 150,000 tons of CO2 equivalent per year.
A DFC equity investment in Dolma Impact Fund II will support investments in healthcare, renewable energy, and technology. Dolma Fund Management, the first private equity fund manager dedicated to investing in Nepal, will target investments that reduce dependence on imported energy, help mitigate the impacts of flood, landslide, and drought on its largely agrarian economy, while promoting the introduction of technology that promotes financial inclusion.
DFC financing is supporting the Energy Access Relief Fund, which is providing low-cost loans to viable off-grid energy providers that serve low-income communities across 50 countries in Africa and Asia but are facing liquidity challenges due to COVID. Energy Access Relief Fund is a collaboration of development institutions, donors, and impact investors including the Dutch development agency FMO, the U.K. development agency CDC Group, as well as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Shell Foundation. The fund plans to deploy up to $100 million of financing to small and medium businesses providing a variety of off-grid energy solutions including solar home systems, clean cookstoves, and solar-powered irrigation.
A $9 million DFC loan helped Ampersand, a young company headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda, build a fleet of electronic motorbikes in Rwanda and expand into Kenya to provide sustainable replacements to gas-powered motorcycle taxis.
Photo Credit: Ethan Daniels
Political risk insurance will support an innovative project by The Nature Conservancy of Arlington, Virginia to create a fund for long-term investment in conservation in Belize.
A loan guaranty from USAID and DFC will mobilize up to $41.7 million for loans to micro, small and medium enterprises in India that are investing in or providing distributed renewable energy products such as rooftop solar, mini-grids, solar pumps, and other energy efficiency solutions. Because small and medium-sized enterprises in India account for almost half of all the energy consumed in the country’s industrial sector, the project has the potential to significantly expand access to reliable sources of clean and affordable power, while also reducing emissions.
Photo Credit: Kipeto Energy Plc
DFC provided financing and reinsurance to support construction of the 100 MW Kipeto Wind Power Project, along with a 15-mile transmission line to connect to the national grid. The 100 MW plant, which began operations in January 2021, is the second-largest wind power project in Kenya and has the capacity to supply power to approximately 250,000 households, based on current energy use for typical families. Located in the Rift Valley about 70 miles south of Nairobi, the project is also situated to feed into Nairobi’s industrial hubs.
Financing supported construction of Indonesia’s first utility scale wind power plant consisting of 30 wind turbines and a three kilometer transmission line that connects to the grid. The new plant has added 75 MW of renewable power, and expanded the country’s capacity to generate clean energy.
A DFC loan is helping the InsuResilience Investment Fund, a fund managed by BlueOrchard, work with financial institutions to develop and expand insurance to protect smallholder farmers and other climate-vulnerable and low-income populations in developing countries, against extreme weather and other natural disasters.
Photo Credit: Lekela
Financing is supporting the development of a 252 MW wind farm near the Gulf of Suez. The plant, which is expected to increase the country’s wind generating capacity by 18 percent and lower the overall cost of power in the country. The plant is also expected to avoid 550,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.
Photo Credit: Lekela
Financing and political risk insurance supported construction of a 158 MW power plant about 50 miles northeast of Dakar. The Taiba N’Diaye plant, the largest wind power plant in West Africa, began operations in February 2020, generating about 15 percent of Senegal’s total installed generating capacity and helping about two million people gain access to power for the first time.
Photo Credit: SunFunder
DFC provided financing and political risk insurance to SunFunder’s Solar Energy Transformation Fund, which will be supporting a loan to finance the modernization and conversion of diesel-fueled telecommunications towers across the Central African Republic to run on solar power.
Political risk insurance is supporting a project to build, finance, operate, and maintain for 25 years a 46 MW biomass power plant along with a substation and a 350-meter transmission line connecting to the electricity grid. The plant, which will generate power from palm tree leaves and trunks, will be the country’s first large scale biomass plant feeding into the grid and the largest power plant fueled by agricultural waste in West Africa.