Sustainability Award
PwC and DESNZ’s Climate Finance Accelerator helps climate projects in emerging economies become investment‑ready and connect with financiers. It has accelerated hundreds of ventures and unlocked significant private capital.
The Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) programme has supported 238 businesses across ten countries to mobilise $500+ million in climate finance – demonstrating how private capital can be unlocked at scale to support the global sustainable energy transition. Delivered by PwC on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the CFA was designed to tackle one of the defining strategic challenges of our time: how to accelerate low-carbon investment and business growth in emerging economies where capital is not yet flowing at the speed or scale required. The CFA has become a flagship instrument of the UK’s International Climate Finance portfolio, by strengthening sustainable business innovation, deepening local capital markets and connecting investors with bankable low-carbon ventures.
The CFA operates across ten countries. It identifies and enrols high-potential climate-mitigation entrepreneurs, companies and projects as cohorts; which receive structured support to strengthen their investment proposition before matchmaking them with investor groups across domestic and international capital markets. PwC’s dual-delivery model combines a central team providing global methodology and learning, with local delivery partners who bring deep market intelligence and investor networks. CFA also aims to create a sustainable legacy by catalysing market transition through demonstrating viable business models and creation of an investor track record in these growth markets.
A defining feature of the CFA is its ability to convene the climate finance ecosystem around shared challenges. The programme continues to adapt its approach to investment support, expanding to explore the use of innovative approaches and alternative financial instruments. By example, the recent Climate Investing Hackathon hosted in London saw the CFA convene leading investors, policymakers and technical experts to accelerate breakthrough financing models capable of unlocking private capital for climate projects in emerging markets.
The CFA’s results (2020-2025) demonstrate value for money and tangible impact via:
- $500+ million investment mobilised across 60 deals, at an implied leverage ratio on public spending of £31 per £1.
- 50+ ecosystem events convening 200+ financial institutions and 350+ policymakers.
- 238 ventures accelerated with tangible climate impacts – for example;
- In South Africa, Wetility, a distributed energy provider, secured $30m investment to avoid over 250,000 tonnes of GHG emissions.
- In Vietnam, Dat Bike, an e-mobility startup, secured $4m investment to facilitate the adoption of 30,000 e-wheelers which will avoid 26,000 tonnes of GHG per year.
- In Mexico, SOURCE, received Series D investment of $130m, for hydropanels that produce high-quality drinking water in remote areas – each one replacing 57,000 plastic bottles.
- In Turkey, DRONEQUBE, an agri-tech startup, secured pre-seed investment. Its technology enables a 30% reduction in methane and nitrous oxide emissions and boosts vineyard yields by 20%.
Building on this momentum, PwC were selected to manage delivery of the CFA as it enters a new five-year scale-up phase, doubling in size – a direct reflection of the programme’s proven ability to deliver impact and DESNZ’s confidence in PwC as a long-term delivery partner.
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