Green Climate Fund approves funding to Climate Asset Management to develop strategy for scaling regenerative practices at a landscape level in Sub-Saharan Africa

• GCF grant to enable design of a blended finance and technical assistance facility aimed at enhancing climate adaptation and food security for smallholder farmers across landscapes in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Collaborating with six countries committed to scaling regenerative and agroecological landscapes: Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia; with Laudes Foundation providing additional grant funding to build on its long-standing Regenerative Production Landscape investment in Tanzania
• The facility will seek to mobilise public and private capital to accelerate the transition to regenerative and resilient agricultural systems through a landscape approach
• Pollination providing strategic advice on landscape scale transition to regenerative systems and the interventions needed to deliver this

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved funding from its Project Preparation Facility to Climate Asset Management to develop a combined blended finance and technical assistance facility). This facility will aim to accelerate the scaling of regenerative and agroecological landscapes, advancing climate adaptation, mitigation, and food security, whilst enhancing the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The initiative will pursue the deployment of a mix of financial solutions tailored for each landscape, encompassing grants and technical support for farmers, investments in agribusiness, and funding for nature-based solutions. This adaptable approach will aim to meet the unique needs of each landscape, enhancing smallholder livelihoods and supporting resilient and sustainable growth.

The initiative hopes to build on interest in regenerative agri-food systems from climate finance by crowding in the private sector, development finance, and philanthropy to achieve sufficient scale of financing to create large-scale impact across a broad portfolio of landscapes in Africa.

Climate Asset Management is currently engaged in GCF’s Project Specific Assessment Approach (PSAA) and has begun the 12-month strategic design and formation phase which will lay the groundwork for the facility.

Kavita Sinha, Private Sector Facility Director at GCF said: “The Green Climate Fund is proud to support this initiative through the use of GCF's Project Preparation Facility (PPF). The program will leverage GCF's PPF funding to create a robust, and an inclusive framework as part of the funding proposal to direct climate, environmental, and social benefits to the communities that need them most through scalable, commercially viable and replicable solutions. The ultimate objective will be to build climate-resilient landscapes across Sub-Saharan countries highly vulnerable to climate change, while establishing commercially viable business models.” 

“Landscape scale restoration and regeneration is more than a win-win. As well as being both a climate mitigation and adaptation solution, it can deliver a raft of livelihood, health and biodiversity benefits to the local communities, said Martin Berg, CEO Climate Asset Management.

“Our experience of financing landscape restoration in Africa, has shown strong interest from development finance and philanthropy in regenerative agri-food systems. On the private capital side, there is a growing global demand for investment opportunities in nature-based solutions” he added.

Specialist climate investment and advisory firm Pollination has been engaged by Climate Asset Management as Strategic Delivery Partner, to provide strategic advice in the development of the initiative, on landscape-scale transition to regenerative systems and the interventions needed to deliver this. Pollination will draw on its expertise in unlocking finance for transition to regenerative food and fibre systems, its experience in forging public-private partnerships and working with Governments to shape policy, and its leadership in partnering with Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

“Regenerative and agroecological landscapes can play a pivotal role in building food security and resilience in African agri-food systems, strengthening farmer livelihoods, and ensuring a just transition. Delivering on their potential requires an unprecedented level of collaboration, and capital from all parts of the financing spectrum. The private sector has a critical role to play. We applaud GCF’s leadership in seeking to catalyse the necessary flows of capital, and we look forward to working with Climate Asset Management and a broad network of partners in Africa, to maximise the transformative potential of the facility,” said Steve Lang, Managing Director of Pollination.