MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Green for Growth Fund Nets $19m in Equity from BMZ to Boost Funding of Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Projects via Microfinance Institutions, Banks

The Green for Growth Fund (GGF), which invests in reductions in pollution and energy usage in Eurasia and North Africa, recently accepted an investment of EUR 15 million (USD 19 million) from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is also known by its German acronym BMZ, to boost the fund’s investment in retail financial institutions. GGF funds financial institutions in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa to finance investments by enterprises and households that are “designed to cut energy use and carbon dioxide emissions by a minimum of 20 percent.”

The investment by BMZ increases the size of GGF’s first-loss tranche, with the goal of raising additional funds from other investors. BMZ is also contributing EUR 1.5 million (USD 1.9 million) to the fund’s Technical Assistance Facility, which is intended to help GGF’s partners create greater, longer-term impact.

The new investment raises BMZ’s commitment to GGF to a total of EUR 62 million (USD 77 million). The EU’s European Investment Bank and German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau created GGF in 2009. As of June 2017, the fund reports an outstanding portfolio of EUR 356 million (USD 441 million) invested in 39 institutions in 19 countries.

Sources and additional resources

GGF press release
http://www.ggf.lu/pressnews/detail/bmz-invests-additional-eur-15-million-in-ggf/

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