Today at COP28 the U.S. government, including USAID and the U.S. Presidential initiative Prosper Africa, announced its investment in a public-private partnership to create the Green Guarantee Company (GGC), the first ever privately run guarantee company devoted to catalyzing green bonds and loans in partner countries, focusing on Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Subject to final documentation, the United States - through USAID, the State Department, and Prosper Africa - alongside the UK's Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the Green Climate Fund, Norfund, and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, intend to contribute to GGC's initial balance sheet of $100 million. With that $100 million balance sheet, the Green Guarantee Company will unlock an estimated $1 billion in new mainstream private capital for climate finance by 2024.
The United States provided $5 million in technical assistance through USAID's EDGE Fund, $3 million in seed funding from Prosper Africa, and $2 million from the State Department, to help establish the world's first credit guarantor dedicated to climate solutions in developing countries. The GGC will assume the financial risk associated with green bonds and loans to systematically de-risk and effectively catalyze scale-level private investments in climate solutions. By taking a blended finance approach - combining donor funding and private capital - the U.S. government is delivering innovative approaches to mobilizing and localizing greater private investments to fund climate projects.
