During COP27 the UK government announced its £26 million fund to climate tech innovators.
This has been made possible thanks to Energy Catalyst an Innovate UK programme which already supported more than 750 energy innovators since its launch in 2014 and aims here to accelerate the innovation needed to reduce energy poverty across Asia and Africa.
‘I am really excited to see the next wave of Energy Catalyst projects announced.’
‘We fund the innovation needed to create jobs, spur economic growth and drive a home-grown energy transition across developing countries with a focus on communities in Africa and Asia’, stated Alice Goodbrook, Energy Catalyst lead, Innovate UK.
Energy Catalyst has been cofounded by influent partners the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as part of the UK government’s Ayrton Fund for clean energy.
This fund will inevitably make a huge change in order to deliver a clean energy transition in developing countries in both Africa and Asia by providing smart green grids, low-carbon hydrogen, energy storage, clean cooking solutions, next-generation solar and sustainable cooling.
‘I am delighted to announce the outcome of Energy Catalyst Round 9 which will award more than £26m of Aryton funding to 200 clean energy innovators working in 25 countries, including 16 countries in Africa, pioneering solutions on energy storage, green grids, hydrogen, clean cooking and more’, commented Graham Stuart, Minister for Climate at COP27.
This is an immense opportunity since Africa could produce by 2050 5-10% of the world’s hydrogen totalling 30-60 million tons of clean fuel per year.
Moreover, not only will it benefit the future of Africa’s economy by creating more than 3.8 million jobs which will result in a $120 billion revenue; but it will also be beneficial to European countries who will need to import a large amount of clean hydrogen in order to meet their decarbonization goals.
So, the fund creates an encouraging and recomforting sentiment towards the transition into the clean tech sector as well as creating a positive prospect for clean energy in European countries.
(Sources: Energy Catalyst and Hycap)