Climate Fund Managers BV (CFM) has launched the Climate Investor Three (CI3), a €150 million (N$2.9 billion) blended finance fund aimed at accelerating the energy transition and fostering green hydrogen development in emerging markets, including Namibia and South Africa.
CI3’s initial capital commitments come from European donors, leveraging a risk-balanced investment model to attract public and private sector funding.
The fund will support projects across the energy transition and green hydrogen value chain, with country-specific initiatives such as SDG Namibia One and SA-H2.
“The Fund’s Development Tranche has secured initial capital commitments of €150 million from European donors. CI3’s blended finance model balances risk, enabling public and private sector investors to access the rapidly growing energy transition and green hydrogen markets at a risk-return profile aligned with their mandates, unlocking larger volumes of capital to drive impact at scale,” CFM said.
CI3 is structured as a family of funds investing across the energy transition and green hydrogen value chain. CI3 is a feeder fund that may invest directly into projects but may also invest into country-specific underlying funds.
These country-specific funds currently include SDG Namibia One (CI3 Namibia), an energy transition and green hydrogen fund in partnership with the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF) and Invest International to incubate Namibia’s energy transition and green hydrogen sector markets.
EIF CEO, Benedict Libanda, said global partnerships are vital to support the energy transition and particularly green hydrogen development in Namibia, especially considering the nascent state of the sector.
“Collaboration among countries, governments, industry stakeholders, and local and international players is essential to overcome technological challenges and scale up production and export. By joining forces, we can pool resources, share knowledge, and accelerate the transition towards a low-carbon future powered by green hydrogen,” he said.
SA-H2 (CI3 South Africa), an energy transition and green hydrogen fund in partnership with Invest International and supported by Sanlam Limited of South Africa, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC), to promote the development of South Africa’s energy transition and green hydrogen sector markets.
CFM noted that emerging markets like South Africa and Namibia, with their abundant renewable resources and competitive production costs, are well-placed to lead the sector, transforming local industries and driving low-emission, climate-resilient economic growth.
CI3’s blended finance structure supports projects from development to construction. Its development tranche absorbs early-stage risks and helps transform concepts into investible projects.
“Private construction capital is mobilised through bespoke, risk-tiered equity tranches, enabling investment from a range of investors including donors, philanthropic capital, DFIs and institutional investors,” said the fund.
Head of Hydrogen at CFM, Sebastiaan Surie, said green hydrogen is a cornerstone of the global energy transition, and emerging markets, with their vast natural capital, are poised to lead the charge.
“Through Climate Investor Three, we leverage our expertise in climate-resilient infrastructure to accelerate the energy transition, unlocking private sector investment for a large range of green hydrogen technologies and associated infrastructure, advancing global climate goals and promoting economic development and energy security where it is most needed. With a strong project pipeline in Namibia and South Africa, we invite public and private investors to partner with us in shaping the global energy transition,” he said.
