CAP Financial Innovation Challenge

Carbon Credit Aggregator Platform

Financial aggregation solution by Mirova SunFunder

The solution

Mirova SunFunder will explore the feasibility of setting up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to aggregate the carbon rights of clean energy companies. Financial aggregation at the SPV level would enable a group of similar companies to attract the required funding for pre-financing their activities and reduce project set-up costs.

The SPV would support the registration of separate carbon credit projects for each sector and region. Early adopters could be the commercial and industrial (C&I) or minigrid sector developers in East Africa, as Mirova SunFunder has identified a number of companies that could immediately benefit from the structure. 

The SPV could be available both to Mirova SunFunder’s clients and other companies that meet the eligibility criteria. Carbon credit projects could be developed by the SPV over time to reach as many enterprises as possible. The funding that investors provide to the SPV would be used to purchase the carbon rights from developers; capital providers would be repaid with the proceeds of the carbon credit sales.

Mirova SunFunder would manage the project in cooperation with a carbon credit broker that offers end-to-end expertise from feasibility and design to implementation and securing carbon revenues. Together with their partners, Mirova SunFunder will explore the feasibility to develop a digital platform based to templatize the process facilitating data collection, ultimately streamlining the process.

 

How does it work?

  1. Mirova SunFunder will develop a carbon credit project in partnership with a carbon credit broker. 

  2. The carbon aggregator will pool carbon rights from several companies in the same sector. 

  3. Eligible companies under the project will enter into a contract with the SPV to sell carbon rights to SPV.

  4. Eligible companies will register the project with the support of the parties involved in the SPV and go through the process required for crediting.

  5. The SPV will endeavour to create templates to standardize the verification process. 

Potential impact

About Mirova Sunfunder

Mirova SunFunder, formed by the acquisition of SunFunder by Mirova in June 2022, has closed more than $230 million in debt financing to 59 solar borrowers in emerging markets, improving energy access for millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa*. Investments to date have been in the off-grid solar, mini-grid, productive use, C&I and telecom Energy System Company sectors in Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. Mirova SunFunder has been widely recognized, being shortlisted by the United Nations Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, having won a UN Global Climate Action Award*** at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, among others. In March 2023, Mirova SunFunder announced the first closing of the Gigaton strategy. For more information, see the press release here

*Mirova SunFunder as of December 2022.

**The reference to a ranking or a label does not prejudge the future performance of the funds or its managers.

 

Get in touch

If you are interested in having more information or want to get in touch, please contact us at: energy@undp.org