Scaling up generation of renewable energy in developing countries is crucial for mitigating climate change and reducing emissions. It also provides an opportunity to bypass traditional fossil fuel-based development pathways and build more sustainable and resilient energy systems.
tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided by power plants in 2022
Results 2022
By investing in renewables, Norfund is helping to replace energy that would otherwise have been generated from fossil sources, thus avoiding greenhouse gas emissions. The renewable power plants in our current portfolio under the development mandate, have contributed to avoiding an estimated 6.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2022 (a significant increase from 4.5 million tonnes last year). Excluding acquired assets, the figure is 4.5 million tonnes avoided emissions from power plants where Norfund has helped finance the construction.
The avoided emission figures are calculated using the harmonized IFI approach ‘Methodological Approach for the Common Default Grid Emission Factor Dataset’ (2022). The estimation includes power producers where Norfund has an ownership share or has extended a loan to, that are providing electricity to the grid or substituting power from the grid (such as “captive power” solutions that provide power directly to a consumer, for instance rooftop solar). It does not include companies providing pure off-grid solutions such as Solar Home Systems. The figures are not attributed to Norfund’s share.
All new renewable power projects Norfund has invested in since the fund was established in 1997, avoid an estimated 10 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. This is equivalent to twice the capacity of the Norwegian government’s CCS project Longship, which will be able to store 5 million tonnes CO2e (once fully operational).