Climate Fund Managers (CFM) has launched a global energy transition and green hydrogen fund, Climate Investor Three (CI3).
The fund has secured commitments of €150m from European donors, and will initially focus on South Africa and Namibia. It contains a blended finance model designed to enable public and private sector investors to access the growing energy transition and green hydrogen markets at a risk-return profile.
It is structured as a collection of funds investing across the energy transition and green hydrogen value chain. It is a feeder fund that may invest directly into projects, but also invests in country-specific underlying funds. These country-specific funds currently include CI3 Namibia and CI3 South Africa – both energy transition and green hydrogen fund in partnership with Invest International with support from the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia, Sanlam Limited of South Africa, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa.
According to CFM, green hydrogen is key to the global energy transition, with emerging markets such as South Africa and Namibia well-placed to lead the sector due to their abundant renewable resources and competitive production costs. The funding seeks to transform local industries and drive low-emission, climate-resilient economic growth.
Hans Docter, co-chief executive of Invest International, said: “Green hydrogen holds immense potential to drive sustainable development in emerging markets and support the global energy transition. Unlocking this potential requires the public and private sectors to work together.
“For this reason we are proud to partner with CFM in launching Climate Investor Three as a blended finance vehicle to facilitate such collaboration, enabling public sector institutions like Invest International to deploy our catalytic capital effectively, getting projects off the ground and balancing risks to mobilise private sector investment at scale.”
