WASHINGTON, MARCH 26 – IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, expanded its transformational ten-year partnership with the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land, and Sea. At IFC headquarters in Washington D.C. today, the Ministry’s Director General for Sustainable Development and Environmental Damage, Francesco La Camera signed an additional $9 million agreement to renew the Italian government’s commitment to expand energy access in developing countries. The result of this partnership have already benefitted more that 165 million people with modern energy services, catalyzing what is today a one billion dollars solar off grid energy industry”, said La Camera. The amendment signed today will:
- Continue to strengthen IFC’s core global energy access initiatives including off-grid development work through Lighting Global;
- Develop market solutions to displace backup diesel generators for the two billion people without access to reliable grid electricity;
- Catalyze the renewable energy market development in key African and Asian countries;
- Strengthen off-grid public private partnerships across Sub Saharan Africa with Italian companies that have established global leadership as innovators and executors of cutting-edge energy access solutions for developing countries.”The Italy-IFC clean energy partnership has been an effective and impactful collaboration since its creation ten years ago”, said Russell Strum who leads IFC’s energy access market development work: “We have combined our institutional strengths to catalyze a dynamic new industry and improve the lives of over 165 million people while reducing greenhouse gases by 3.3 million tons CO2 equivalent per year.”
Around the world, nearly one billion people have no access to basic energy services, and another billion are connected to unreliable electricity services. Kerosene lamps and diesel generators pump gigatons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year, harming not only people, but the environment as well. Through this expanded collaboration with Italy, IFC will mobilize private innovation and capital to build an environmentally sustainable energy infrastructure that transforms the lives of people living without reliable access to affordable and clean modern energy. (@OnuItalia)
