Ikea & Rockefeller Foundation Collaborates for $1 Billion RE Investment

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Two big foundations, Ikea and Rockefeller have come together to set up a USD 1 billion global platform to fight climate change and energy poverty. The platform launching this year is aiming to reduce 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions and to empower 1 billion people with distributed renewable energy (DRE). 

The Rockefeller Foundation is focused on improving access to electricity, food, healthcare, and economic opportunity through creative partnerships and innovative investments to extract more value from data and private capital.  

While the Ikea Foundation supports programs run by well-regarded organizations like UNICEF and the Clinton Health Access Initiative. It helps children and youth living in the world’s poorest communities.

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The new platform of both the foundations will have USD 500 million of investments from each. This is renewable energy generated from sources such as mini-grid and off-grid solutions, located near the point of use, rather than centralized sources like power plants. The new global platform will oversee the organizations’ combined matching funds. 

It aims to deliver clean and reliable power to a chunk of the the 800 million people worldwide who lack electricity, and a further 2.8 billion who have unreliable access. It will be run as a public charity to manage a concerted effort to rapidly channel development funds to life-changing projects on the ground.

By creating a platform to deploy catalytic capital more efficiently, and at a scale that supports the expansion of local renewable energy projects, governments will be better able to achieve renewable electrification and development targets, according to both foundations. 

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 The effects of the climate crisis will make this even worse, which is why we must invest now to reverse this downward spiral,” said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. He added, “Big, bold, and pioneering collaboration and investment is required not only for the short term but also the long term, to galvanize a better future. Our partnership will unlock the financing and resources that are essential to provide clean, reliable electricity that improves the lives and livelihoods of people everywhere”

Speaking on their objectives, Per Heggenes, CEO of IKEA Foundation, stated, “Our collective ambition is to create a platform that supports renewable energy programs which can deliver greenhouse gas reductions fast and efficiently and accelerate the energy transition. We need to replace polluting sources of energy with renewable ones, provide access to energy to communities and unlock further funding for sustainable models.”

He further added, “If global energy consumption doesn’t change from fossil fuels to renewable energy, we will not meet the Paris Agreement ambitions and millions of families will be left behind in poverty.”