The United Nations Environment Programme manages the Seed Capital Assistance Facility (SCAF), a multi-donor trust fund designed to support clean energy projects in high-risk frontier markets. The facility helps unlock private sector investment by sharing early-stage development risks.
In many frontier markets, renewable energy projects struggle to secure funding at the earliest stages. Although development costs are relatively low, risks linked to policy, market conditions and local capacity remain high. This often keeps private investors away when support is most needed.
The facility responds to this gap through grants and repayable grants for private sector fund managers, platform managers and development companies active in the low-carbon sector. The grants help build project pipelines, strengthen local expertise and bring promising projects to financial close.
SCAF focuses on low- and lower-middle-income countries as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Development Assistance Committee list, with activities concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.
By supporting a limited number of projects per technology and country, it helps reduce risk in new markets and prepares the ground for future scale-up.
Why it matters
Scaling up renewable energy is essential to meet global climate goals, yet private investment remains concentrated in lower-risk markets. Targeted public funding can play a critical role in closing this gap by unlocking early-stage private capital.
Up to February 2026, USD 34 million in donor funding has helped mobilize USD 1.4 billion in private investment. The facility has also strengthened local developer ecosystems and contributed to emissions reductions, increased clean energy generation, improved energy access and job creation in frontier markets.
