The board of directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a ZAR 100 million ($12.4 million) equity investment in the Evolution One Fund, a private equity fund focused on clean energy and sustainable technologies across southern Africa.

According to an AfDB statement, the purpose of the Evolution One Fund is twofold – to make equity and equity-related investments in sustainable projects and companies to reduce carbon emissions, and to ensure the “sound environmental, social and economic performance” of the investments.

The fund will focus on growth-phase businesses in eight high-growth sectors: clean energy/energy efficiency (up to 50% of its investments), efficient and clean manufacturing processes and technologies; air quality and emissions control; water quality and management; waste management; agribusiness and forestry; natural products, organics and natural health; and environmental real estate.

South Africa will account for 60-75% of the fund’s overall investments, while up to 25-40% will be earmarked for all other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries.

Support for clean energy investments and infrastructure to address the issue of climate change is part of the African Development Bank’s strategy for 2008-2012.

RELATED SITES:

African Development Bank Group [1]
Evolution One Fund [2] (PDF)
Southern African Development Community [3]

Who is investing in clean technology?
Find out, CleanTech Brief [4]