New York, NY –25 October 2024
Africa investor (Ai) announced today that Dr. Hubert Danso, CEO and Chairman of Africa investor, delivered a pivotal address at the esteemed Cornell-OFR Global Climate Finance and Risks Conference. He presented transformative strategies for scaling institutional investment to mobilize private capital for climate transition in emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs).
Dr. Danso spoke on the panel Investors and Global Climate Financing, where he underscored Africa’s indispensable role as a green technologies manufacturing hub, vital for achieving global net-zero goals and accelerating the $10 trillion per annum green industrial economy.
Distinguished Speakers at the Conference
The conference featured prominent speakers, including Dr. Hubert Danso, Janet Yellen (Secretary of the US Treasury), Mark Carney (Co-Chair of GFANZ and Vice Chair of Brookfield Asset Management), Andrew Karolyi (Dean, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business), Richard Cantor (Vice Chairman, Moody’s Investors Service), Johan Rockström (Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research), and Alissa Kleinnijenhuis (Professor, Cornell University, Imperial College London), among other global authorities from academia, the public sector, and finance.
Africa’s Strategic Role in the Global Green Transition
Dr. Danso highlighted Africa’s unparalleled strategic assets, including:
- 40% of critical climate minerals essential for green industrialization.
- 50% of global natural capital critical for global decarbonization.
- Renewable energy potential exceeding that of the EU and US combined.
He also pointed to Africa’s demographic dividend, with its youth projected to comprise half the global workforce by the century’s end, and the continent’s $4.8 trillion carbon credit market potential by 2050. Despite these advantages, Africa receives only 2% of global private investment in renewables, facing a $3 trillion financing gap for its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) over the next six years.
“There is no single pathway to net-zero without exponentially increasing institutional investor capital allocations to Africa,” Dr. Danso stated.
Universal Owner Solutions to Scale Institutional Investor-Public Partnerships (IIPPs)
Dr. Danso proposed a series of solutions to address the critical market failure in private capital mobilization (PCM) by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), which currently mobilize only 20-38 cents of private capital per dollar of development finance, far below the G20’s $10 target.
Key approaches outlined include:
- Bankable Offtakes – Creating demand coalitions in sectors such as green hydrogen, steel, cement, and sustainable aviation fuel to de-risk large-scale Greentech projects in Africa.
- Policy Frameworks – Mainstreaming initiatives like the Commonwealth Heads of Government Climate Investment Authorities to make development investable, rather than developmental.
- Risk Data Platforms – Democratize AI-driven platforms like GEMs3.0 to enfranchise green, risk-adjusted investment portfolios.
- Programmatic Pipelines – Partnering with governments to turn Africa’s $3 trillion NDC commitments into investable opportunities.
- New Asset Classes – Transforming African green industrial infrastructure, natural capital, and green industrial cities into investable asset classes to create programmatic allocations aligned with institutional mandates.
A Call for Bold Global Leadership
Dr. Danso urged G7 and G20 governments to act as “climate investment statesmen” by championing innovative investment models and increasing government borrowing to co-invest in sustainable projects. He emphasized the need for MDBs to prioritize de-risking private capital’s participation and called for incentivized private-to-private de-risking mechanisms to complement traditional MDB efforts.
“Appropriately incentivized institutional investors, as universal owners, have the capacity to close 90% of Africa’s financing gap. The urgency to align capital with climate priorities has never been greater,” he affirmed.
A Collaborative Path Forward
Dr. Danso concluded with a powerful message: Africa’s role in the global green industrial economy is essential, not optional. The continent’s unique resources, demographic strengths, and untapped markets present an extraordinary opportunity for institutional investors to achieve competitive returns and enhance portfolio resiliency while advancing global decarbonization efforts for the benefit of people, planet, and nature.
About the Conference
The Cornell-OFR Global Climate Finance and Risks Conference, organized by the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, US Treasury’s Office of Financial Research, and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, convened global experts to explore innovative solutions for scaling climate finance and mitigating systemic risks.
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