Climate Fund Managers (CFM), the manager of Climate Investor Two (CI2), is pleased to announce the signing of the Development Funding Agreement with Freetown Waste Transformers (FWT) and The Waste Transformers BV (TWT).
Under the agreement, the Climate Investor Two Development Fund (DF2) has approved an investment of USD 3.9 million. The investment will finance project development activities, as well as the purchase and operation of 5 Waste Transformer units in Freetown, Sierra Leone under a pilot scheme initiative.
The project will supply Sierra Leone’s Commercial and Industrial energy offtakers with baseload off-grid energy, whilst reducing the amount of organic waste sent to landfills. The solution complements the city of Freetown’s award-winning waste management initiatives by converting about 20% of Freetown organic waste into electricity, heat and digestate to be sold as organic fertiliser.
The Waste Transformers are a Dutch waste-to-value solution provider who has developed matching named ‘Waste Transformers’. These are modular, anaerobic digesters, built in 20-foot shipping containers, producing biogas from food waste, and turning that into good energy for local consumption. What remains is turned into a high value fertilizer to stimulate local food production. The project concerns the treatment of organic waste which shall be fed into Waste Transformers placed around Freetown. The units shall be supplied with waste collected either on-site from large customers or from waste collected by micro-enterprises which are organised by FWT.
FWT is a Sierra Leonean-owned integrated waste management Company that is developing a waste management app and has a waste supply agreement in place with The Freetown City Council and The Waste Collection Management Association for the City’s waste. FWT were recently featured on CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/03/30/inside-africa-sierra-leone-climate-change-environment-spc.cnn
CFM estimate that upon reaching the end of the development phase, the project will represent an opportunity of USD 20.3 million to the CI2 Construction Equity Fund Two (CEF2) to invest in further opportunities. In addition, during the commercial phase, it is estimated that the systems will treat up to 109t of organic waste per day, creating 25 new direct jobs and 50 new indirect jobs as well as diversifying Sierra Leone’s energy supply.
Tarun Brahma, CFMs Head of Investments, stated the following: “The Waste Transformers project provides a great opportunity for CFM to address the demand for waste treatment and electricity production in Sierra Leone, whilst also reducing waste going to landfills and providing jobs”
Lara van Druten, The Waste Transformers’ CEO, “We are excited at the opportunity to transform an unused resource – waste – into new energy for Freetown. And, we are truly delighted that we will embark on this journey with a company with the stature of CFM.”
Aminata Dumbuya-Jarr of FWT believes that “bringing CFM onboard as an investor in the project contributes to our global-local methodology and will allow the project to rapidly scale and operationalize the impact we envisioned at the project’s inception”.
About Climate Fund Managers
CFM is a leading blended finance fund manager dedicated to securing a sustainable future through investing across global emerging markets. CFM has a long-term vision to structure cutting edge financing facilities around thematic areas of climate change mitigation and adaptation, including renewable energy, water, sanitation and oceans, sustainable land use and sustainable cities. Established in 2015, CFM is a joint venture between the Dutch development bank FMO and Sanlam InfraWorks – part of the Sanlam Group of South Africa.
Climate Investor Two (CI2) is a financing facility mandated to invest in water, sanitation and ocean infrastructure projects in emerging economies. CI2 will follow the proven ‘whole-of-life’ financing methodology of Climate Investor One (CI1), which has been acclaimed for its approach to risk mitigation and private sector capital mobilization. CI2 similarly makes use of public sector capital deployed alongside commercial funding. This commitment from the EU brings CI2‘s assets under management to EUR ~95 million. CI2 also enjoys cornerstone support from by the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD). The consortium that manages the EUR 160 million DFCD also includes CFM, World Wide Fund for Nature Netherlands (WWF-NL), Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) and Entrepreneurial Development Bank, FMO.
About The DFCD
The Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD) enables private sector investment in projects aimed at climate adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made EUR 160 million available to increase the resilience of communities and ecosystems most vulnerable to climate change. The DFCD is managed by a pioneering consortium of Climate Fund Managers (CFM), World Wide Fund for Nature Netherlands (WWF-NL) and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, led by the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, FMO. The DFCD forms an important additional instrument for the Dutch government’s efforts in contributing to the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For more information, please visit: https://www.thedfcd.com/
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