Policy Insights 136 - Catalysing Sustainable Finance for the African Regional Infrastructure Agenda

Africa’s regional infrastructure agenda, the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa, is focusing on developing regional infrastructure in more sustainable ways, particularly in its support for two emerging sustainable infrastructure initiatives – the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa and the Green Infrastructure Corridor for Intra- African Trade. [...] Partners, including the GCF, the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office of the United Kingdom, the EU and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (Italy’s state bank), have pledged a combined $665 million to support the Platform, in addition to the $1.4 billion in existing ACGF co-financing pledges.42 All of the ASEAN initiatives mentioned above have received funding from the ADB, which has played a major. [...] Considering the challenges that the region faces in mobilising sustainable finance for infrastructure development, the Alliance could play an important role in targeting regional bottlenecks and supporting the development of a sustainable pipeline, and potentially addressing the region’s low levels of private sector participation. [...] As the Alliance appears to have a very similar focus to that of the ACGF (finance that is catalytic, regional, focused on pre-project preparation, and green), the ACGF operations plan47 can therefore serve as a useful guide for the AfDB and AU in the structuring of a successful, sustainable regional infrastructure facility, with potential opportunities for knowledge sharing between the two entitie. [...] 52 Van der Ven and Signé, ‘Greening the AfCFTA.’ 53 Van der Ven and Signé, ‘Greening the AfCFTA.’ 21 Policy Insights 136 | CATALYSING SUSTAINABLE FINANCE FOR THE AFRICAN REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE AGENDA ∙ As part of the conceptualisation and structuring of the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa, the Alliance should organise a knowledge-sharing event or smaller engagement with the relevant p.