Isramart: Euro 200m for Mediterranean Carbon Fund

Isra-Mart news:
Luxemburg – To study and promote the creation of a Mediterranean Carbon Fund (MCF), CDC Climat, a newly created Caisse des Dépôts subsidiary, French Development Agency AFD, PROPARCO, the European Investment Bank (EIB), Cassa depositi e prestiti (CDP) and KfW Bankengruppe, the German promotional bank (KfW), have joined forces. The initiative, designed to support deployment of climate friendly projects around the Mediterranean, has been launched within the scope of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).

It will provide expertise on the country-level and additional financing to projects developed in southern and eastern Mediterranean. The MCF will use carbon credits generated under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), covering renewable energy, waste management and energy efficiency projects. Consistent with the 2008 European Union climate and energy package, these credits can be created until 2020.

The fund will bring together six European public financial institutions with strong experience in carbon markets and in developing projects in the region. They will be able, in an open partnership, to provide long term support for the initiative, in cooperation with financial partners from the southern and eastern Mediterranean, which could participate in the Mediterranean Carbon Fund under a more restricted geographical mandate.

The Mediterranean Carbon Fund is expected to be set up during 2011. Its size will be based on an evaluation of the volume of carbon credits potentially generated by projects under the CDM and could be delivered by 2020 in the region, including Jordan. The overall fund size could reach Euro 200m.

To guarantee the number, current status and quality of the projects, the Mediterranean Carbon Fund will be supplemented by an upstream study and technical assistance facility. This facility will aim to provide effective support to project developers, particularly to prepare registration of projects by the CDM Executive Board.

* CDC Climat is Caisse des Dépôts’ subsidiary launched in 2010 to tackle climate change by taking action in three areas: investment in carbon assets, development of carbon market services and research into climate change economics.
* AFD stands for the Agence Française de Développement. AFD is a public development finance institution that has worked to fight poverty and support economic growth in developing countries and the French Overseas Communities for almost 70 years. AFD executes the French government’s development aid policies.
* PROPARCO is a Development Financial Institution partly held by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and private shareholders from the North and South. PROPARCO’s mission is to be a catalyst for private investment in developing countries which targets growth and sustainable development.
* The European Investment Bank, the long-term lending institution of the European Union, whose shareholders are the 27 European Union member states, has been active across Africa for over 40 years. EIB activities follow policies and objectives set down by European Union member states and whose Finance Ministers are the EIB’s Governors.
* Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), founded in 1850, is a joint-stock company under public control. The Ministry of the Economy and Finance owns 70% of the company, while the remaining 30% is held by a broad group of bank foundations. For 160 years CDP has been pursuing a public interest mission: financing the development of the country.
* KfW Bankengruppe gives impetus to economic, social and ecological development worldwide. As a promotional bank under the ownership of the Federal Republic and the Länder (federal states), it offers support to encourage sustainable improvement in economic, social, ecological living and business conditions.