About
2016 Fire Awards Winner
Champion
Cathal Conaty, Managing Director, International Housing Solutions
About
In Africa, high perceived costs and uncertainty surrounding the benefits of green technologies, coupled with low awareness, has inhibited the penetration of green technologies in the affordable housing market. For example, solar hot water, which is relatively cheap and cost effective in South Africa is only present in about 1% of affordable homes. Absent consumer demand for green technologies, private finance will not invest in greening homes.
Affordable Green Homes is an initiative led by International Housing Solutions (IHS) to deliver and build demand for green homes in South and Sub-Saharan Africa by proving, measuring and marketing their benefits.
Barriers Addressed
- Limited demand due to unclear benefits and perception of high costs
- Private finance is waiting until demand is proven
- Catalytic and commercial investors haven’t joined forces
- No large-scale demonstration projects
Approach
Increase the size of an existing private equity fund, and replicating the fund in further countries, blending capital from both catalytic and commercial investors. By taking a lower return, the catalytic investors lower the overall cost of capital of the fund to enable investment in clean technologies to green homes under development without having to lower returns to commercial investors or charge a higher price for the homes. This allows the market to experience the benefits without have to pay for them. The fund manager measures and reports the benefits, and publicizes the results in the wider market to raise awareness and ultimately demand for green technologies in this market.
BNEF On-Stage Pitch
Details
Invest
Key Impact Metrics
- Green homes already delivered: Over 15,000
- Minimum energy and water usage savings: 20%
- Target return to fund investors: 20%
Most Recent Progress
$96M USD has been committed or approved at the investment committee for development of 24 housing developments, with 9,300 affordable homes of which 6,600 will be green. As these are generally in the construction phase, measurement of benefits is not yet occurring.
Investment Opportunities
Capital raise has been closed.
News & Events
2016 Fire Winners Reach Major Milestones
October 19, 2016October 19, 2016 A blog post by Gloria Coleman, Senior Analyst, Climate Policy Initiative, Fire Awards Secretariat In the six months following the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Future of Energy Summit in New York, there have been several successful outcomes for the 2016 Fire Winners, which kicked-off implementation of work plans to achieve growth goals, with support of […]
Finance For Resilience Honors Four Winning Ideas To Accelerate Investments In Sustainable Cities And Clean Energy
April 5, 2016New York, April 5, 2016 – Finance for Resilience (FiRe), a platform to crowdsource and champion new ideas to accelerate finance for clean energy, low-carbon infrastructure, and sustainable cities, today announced the four 2016 winners of its annual competition at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Future of Energy Summit. Over 1000 energy-sector and finance leaders at the […]
Finance For Resilience Announces Eight Finalists In Clean Energy, Sustainable Cities, And Climate Resilience
March 3, 2016Winners to be announced at Bloomberg New Energy Finance Future of Energy Summit in New York on April 5 London, March 3, 2016 – Finance for Resilience (FiRe) today announced the selection of eight finalists in its annual competition for financial innovations to drive investments in climate-friendly projects and activities worldwide. At the 21st Conference of the Parties […]
Contact
Cathal Conaty
Managing Director, International Housing Solutions
Cathal.conaty@intlhousingsolutions.com
http://www.ihsinvestments.co.za/