Bank Of America, Crossboundary Partner for RE Expansion Across Africa

Renewable energy players, governments and financial institutions are leaving no stone unturned to expand the deployment of RE through pacts and agreements on the sidelines of COP-27. African renewable energy conglomerate CrossBoundary Energy has announced in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt at the COP27 about their intention to explore financing solutions with Bank of America to rapidly scale its investments in renewable energy solutions for commercial and industrial businesses across Africa.

Bank of America held that the collaboration with CrossBoundary serves as an example of a blended finance transaction driving capital flow into Emerging Markets and will support delivery of approximately 255MW of solar and wind generation and 50MWh of storage projects by CrossBoundary.

CrossBoundary claims that it provides tailored, fully financed renewable energy solutions to its corporate customers, allowing them to avoid upfront capital expenditure and technical risks, while still benefitting from cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable power.  CrossBoundary is currently delivering a portfolio of $230 million in projects for more than 30 corporate customers across 14 African countries and is the renewable energy provider of choice for several market-leading companies present in Africa, including Unilever, Diageo, Rio Tinto, Heineken, and AB InBev.

Matt Tilleard, co-founder and Managing Partner, CrossBoundary Group, said, “COP27 is an appropriate backdrop to articulate our shared commitment to expand large-scale renewable energy projects in Africa.  We are proud to be working with Bank of America, and as well as development finance institutions, to build a more sustainable future in the region.”

Karen Fang, Global Head of Sustainable Finance, Bank of America, said, “We believe emerging markets need the net zero transition as much as developed markets, and as part of our own commitment to achieve net zero before 2050 and our $1.5 trillion sustainable finance commitment by 2030, are ensuring climate finance capital are flowing in a targeted and equitable manner.” Fang said that her organisation looks look forward to working with CrossBoundary that has pan-Africa presence.

In 2021, Bank of America set a goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in financing activities, operations and supply chain before 2050.  As part of the company’s commitment to deploy $1.5 trillion in sustainable finance by 2030, approximately $250 billion of capital was mobilized and deployed aligned with the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals in 2021.