Five years after the start of Climate Investor One (CIO) the first out of four mid-term evaluations commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has now been finalized.
FMO has played a crucial role in setting up the management company behind CIO, Climate Fund Managers, and is also an investor in CIO. Therefore, we were eager to receive the findings, conclusions and recommendations from this learning-focused, independent external evaluation that assesses how this innovative concept has developed in practice.
Climate Investor One (CIO), is a ‘blended finance’ investment vehicle accelerating private sector investments for climate mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. Managed by Climate Fund Managers (CFM), CIO provides financing to renewable energy projects across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Already at year five of a 20-year implementation period, the evaluation states that it is clear that CIO’s model is proving to be a viable concept. CIO is making good progress in contracting and supporting project developers that are ultimately successful at completing construction and achieving full operations. The report also points out lessons that FMO will take to heart in future endeavours, internal or together with CFM or other partners, in the set-up of a blended fund. One of the most important lessons is that twenty years is too long to lock in parameters for such a rapidly evolving context as the Renewable Energy market.
Born out of The Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance – CIO contributes to important goals of FMO and the Dutch Government: 1) the initiative seeks to fast-track the development of renewable energy projects in emerging markets thereby contributing to the energy needs of the growing populations in these markets, whilst reducing GHG emissions and 2) CIO aims to mobilize an estimated USD 1 billion in investment from donors, development institutions and private investors.
By recycling capital into different projects over a span of 20 years, CIO expects to deliver an estimated 1,700MW of additional capacity, generating approximately 5,100GWh of electricity per annum, serve about 13 million people, and avoid ca. 1.9 million tCO2e of harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually.