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key frontier for reducing emissions and protecting Madagas- car’s extraordinary natural heritage.
of clean cooking and to promote alternative livelihoods for those involved in charcoal production. This may involve a combination of training and capacity building with microfi- nance solutions. • Building partnerships across a range of national stake- holders in government, civil society and at community level to raise awareness of the advantages of clean cooking and building coalitions in support of the transition. The OPEC Fund has also recently approved a grant as part of a financing package to accelerate access to clean cooking in Somalia and provided technical assistance to establish a Climate Finance and Energy Innovation Hub in Sierra Leone . With the hub the OPEC Fund will support the operationali- zation of Sierra Leone’s Energy Transition Plan and National Clean Cooking Strategy and support pipeline development and resource mobilization for clean cooking projects, while ensuring coordination among key domestic and international stakeholders. Furthermore, the OPEC Fund is also in conversation with the governments of Kenya , Tanzania , Uganda , Zambia , Mozam- bique and Rwanda and others about similar programs and aims to work with more partner countries over the coming years.
Working with UNIDO as the technical specialist agency, the OPEC Fund has to date (November 2024) provided US$1.5 million in grants to Madagascar for studies and pilot projects to help identify the most promising clean cooking technolo- gies and business models. The grants have prepared the way for finalizing the design of a US$35 million investment (the loan agreement was signed in September 2024) that is aimed at supporting clean cooking through a number of interlock- ing components: • Finance for the rollout of clean cooking technologies, in- cluding LPG, e-cooking (linked to ongoing investments in so- lar mini-grids) and improved cookstoves. This will involve a combination of financial instruments, including grants, debt and equity, with a focus on helping local clean cooking firms to access carbon finance.
• Agro-forestry initiatives to promote ecotourism and sus- tainable forestry management and livelihoods.
• Community empowerment initiatives to help women make productive use of the time saved through the introduction
OPEC Fund clean cooking loan to Madagascar: US$ 35 MILLION
5. THE OPEC FUND’S APPROACH TO CLEAN COOKING: GOALS FOR THE FUTURE
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