About
The Fire Awards for Sustainable Finance accelerated powerful, early-stage pilots and businesses that can unlock finance for clean energy and green growth.
Presented each year at the BNEF Future of Energy Summit in New York City, Fire Awards winners received business support to demonstrate viability, reach profitability, and/or scale impact.
2017 represented the last cycle of the Fire Awards, after which the program’s model, methods, and alumni were embedded into the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance.
The Challenge
Investment in clean energy, energy efficiency, and other activities to mitigate and adapt to climate change totaled USD 391 billion in 2014 (CPI, 2015). However, current spending on clean energy and green growth is insufficient to limit climate change to 2 degrees Celsius, with up to USD 16.5 trillion is needed to meet this goal between now and 2030. This requires a sea change in our economic system – from a high-carbon economy to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy.
The Vision
The Fire Awards sought to support and build momentum for early-stage pilots and businesses that were already showing promise through market testing or existing pilots, and needed help demonstrating viability, reaching profitability, and/or scaling impact. In particular, The Fire Awards provided profile-raising and business support to initiatives that demonstrated the potential to spur commercial investment and transformation in clean energy and green growth.
Process
The Fire Awards ran in annual cycles.
If an initiative was selected by the Fire Advisory Board and Lab Members, the Champion and team for that initiative would:
- Work with Climate Policy Initiative analysts, communications specialists, and industry experts to develop and practice a 3-minute pitch for the BNEF Future of Energy Summit
- Deliver their pitch to hundreds of investors and leaders who attend the Summit
If an initiative was voted a Fire winner at the BNEF Future of Energy Summit, the team for that initiative would receive a set number of working days of support from Climate Policy Initiative and a Working Group of experts over the course of 3-4 months. The primary aim of this support was to assist Fire winners in reaching near-term milestones. Activities supported depended largely on the needs of the Fire Winner, but could include:
- Market research and analysis
- Assessment of financing structures
- Investor landscaping
- Pitch deck creation or refinement
- Stakeholder outreach strategy
Expert support through Working Groups was generously provided on a volunteer basis from the Lab’s network of experts.
History
Michael Liebreich, the Founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board of BNEF, created the Fire Awards in 2013 (originally FiRe, or Finance for Resilience) in response to the UN Secretary-General’s challenge to the private sector to participate in clean energy transformation. At the BNEF Summit in 2013 Ban Ki-moon called for the private sector effort to take action to hold global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. To help achieve this goal, FiRe was launched in October 2013.
In their first two cycles, the Fire Awards were managed by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Climate Policy Initiative has served as Secretariat and analytical provider for the Fire Awards since 2015.
2015 Fire Winners
Pay As You Save® Financing for Clean Energy Upgrades
Champion: Holmes Hummel, Founder of Clean Energy Works
Global Solar Lease Financing
Champion: Brad Johnson, President of Resource Mobilization Advisors
Clean Energy Credit Check
Champion: Chase Weir, CEO of beEdison
CarbonCount™ for Green Bonds
Champion: Kateri Callahan, President of Alliance to Save Energy
2015 Fire Finalists
RESFARM: Affordable Solar for Farms
Champion: Julio Pombo, R&D Manager of Ela Engineering
Scalable & Standards-based DC Microgrids
Champion: Paul Savage, CEO of Nextek Power Systems
Low Carbon Emission Cities
Champion: Enrique Gómez Junco, CEO of Optima Energia
Municipal Adaptation Bonds
Champion: Michael Baer, Senior Advisor of New York Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery
2014 Fire Winners
Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund 2.0 (GEEREF)
Champion: Cyrille Arnould, Head of GEEREF, European Investment Bank
Monoline Guarantees for Green Bonds
Champion: David Stevens, CEO of AMF Guarantee
Accelerating Energy Efficiency Financing
Champion: Josue Tanaka, Managing Director of Energy Efficiency, EBRD
Business Renewables Resource Centre
Champion: Jules Kortenhorst, Chief Executive Officer of Rocky Mountain Institute
Debt Fund For Prepaid Energy Access
Champion: Simon Bransfield-Garth, Chief Executive Officer of Azuri Technologies
Mainstreaming Four Types Of Green Bonds
Champion: Suzanne Buchta, Managing Director of Green Debt Markets, BAML
2014 Fire Finalists
Sustainable Credit Rating System
Champion: Daniel Wiener, Chief Executive Officer of ECOS
100% Clean Access in Africa
Champion: Yariv Cohen, Chairman of Kaenaat
Make Power Plants Bankable with Insurance
Champion: Andrew Gaines, Managing Director of DeRisk
Sunset Credits
Champion: James Collins, Senior Manager of Strategy Practice, Accenture
International Solar Investment Initiative
Champion: Michael Mendelsohn, Senior Financial Analyst of National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Geothermal Drilling Output Insurance
Champion: Julian Richardson, Chief Executive Officer of Parhelion Underwriting
Fire Advisory Board
Michael Liebreich
Chairman of the Advisory Board and Founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Olivia Darby
Chief Operating Officer of the Capital, Science & Policy Practice, the Willis Group
Gabriela Da Rocha
Head of Business Development, Brazil, First Solar
Daniel Firger
Member of the Environment Program, Bloomberg Philanthropies
Peter Gutman
Managing Director and Global Head of Renewable Energy, Standard Chartered Bank
Abyd Karmali
Managing Director, Climate Finance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Christie Ulman
Director of Climate Change, Energy Portfolio, The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation
Jon Moore
Head of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Bloomberg New Energy Finance
David Painter
Advisor, Sub-National Technical Assistance Program, Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility
David Sandalow
Inaugural Fellow, Centre on Global Energy Policy and Senior Research Scholar, Columbia School of International and Public Affairs
Kevin Whitfield
Head of the African Treasuries Carbon & Financial Products unit, Nedbank Capital – South Africa
Dr. Barbara Buchner
Executive Director, Climate Policy Initiative, Fire Awards Secretariat
Winners & Finalists

SunSHIFT Global Fleet of Modular Moveable Megawatt Scale Solar Assets
A new asset facility to back a global fleet of moveable, megawatt-scale solar farms and aims to deploy 10 MW of solar power in the first year

Proterra Electric Bus Battery Service Agreements
A lease financing model to lower the up-front costs of Proterra’s award winning electric buses, making them price-competitive with fossil fuel-powered buses from day one

Solar Agro-Processing Power Stations
An enterprise to use solar off-grid systems for agro-processing in villages, to replace diesel-fueled mills or manual work by women

Online Financing of Clean Energy Projects
An online clean energy project financing platform that aims to double the percentage of mid-sized projects that get financed from 5 to 10% by reducing transaction costs and matching projects directly with profiled investors

Investor Confidence Project
An initiative to standardize the way energy efficiency projects are brought to market, increasing confidence in predicted returns and scaling up investments globally

Developing Harmonized Metrics for PayGo Solar
An initiative to enable better reporting and securitization of PayGo Solar, the leading business model for distributed solar energy systems

Forest Resilience Bond
An investment platform that aligns the Forest Service and utilities to share the costs and benefits of better forest management

The Double ROI Platform: Retrofit Return on Investment
An industry collaboration to drive scale in maritime shipping efficiency retrofit markets

Affordable Green Homes
An initiative to deliver strong returns to investors while catalyzing significant new demand to drive green homes market growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

Clean Energy Investment Accelerator (CEIA)
A revolving working-capital fund to develop bankable renewable energy and energy efficiency projects combined with early-stage venture capital

Global Renewable Independent Power Supplier (GRIPS)
An innovative renewable energy service company, building and operating a diversified portfolio of hybrid energy plants in remote areas in developing countries
News & Events
Bloomberg News: The Fledgling Electric Bus Business Is Taking a Page From Solar
April 24, 2019By Brian Eckhouse, Bloomberg For all the talk about electric cars taking over the roads, electric buses still make up less than 0.1 percent of America’s public transportation fleet. Proterra Inc. thinks it’s found a way to change that — by taking a page from rooftop solar. The electric-bus maker is partnering with Japanese trading house Mistui […]
Proterra and Mitsui & Co Ltd. create $200mn credit facility to scale Proterra battery leasing program
Pioneering battery leasing program lowers upfront costs of electric buses to be competitively priced against diesel, removing one of the biggest barriers to adoption Burlingame, Calif.– April 16, 2019 – Today Proterra, a leading innovator in heavy-duty electric transportation and 2017 winner of the Lab’s Fire Awards program, announced a partnership with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. […]
The 2017 Fire Awards winners target clean energy and sustainable transit
April 25, 2017New York, 25 April, 2017 – Today at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Future of Energy Summit hundreds of leaders in clean energy and finance voted for two Fire Awards winners from amongst four finalists that presented their businesses in an extremely close pitch competition. The two winners are: Electric Bus Battery Service Agreements: A new lease financing model to […]
The 2017 Fire Awards Winners Target Clean Energy And Sustainable Transit
New York – Today at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Future of Energy Summit, hundreds of leaders in clean energy and finance voted for two Fire Awards winners from amongst four finalists that presented their businesses in an extremely close pitch competition. The two winners are: Electric Bus Battery Service Agreements: A new lease financing model to lower […]
The Fire Awards Announce Four Finalists
December 6, 2016December 6, 2016 London – The Fire Awards have announced the selection of four finalists to pitch their financial innovations for the acceleration of green growth at the annual Bloomberg New Energy Finance Future of Energy Summit in April 2017. The four finalists were selected by the Fire Advisory Panel, consisting of experts in finance, […]
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 […]
Investor network seeks powerful, actionable ideas to drive finance for a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy
September 19, 2016Submit ideas at http://www.ClimateFinanceIdeas.org New York—Today, in the margins of Climate Week, a network of investors, governments, businesses, and foundations launched a call for ideas to accelerate finance for climate mitigation and adaptation. “Nations and businesses have put forward strong targets for climate action, but implementation is still a challenge, particularly when it comes to investment,” […]
Announcement From Dr. Barbara Buchner: FiRe Becomes Fire Awards
September 16, 2016Since FiRe began, its goal has been to accelerate powerful, actionable business models that can drive new finance for clean energy and green growth. Over the last three years, FiRe has helped advance the pay-as-you-go solar industry in Africa; promote energy efficiency lending by commercial banks; support major corporations such as General Motors and Cisco switch to renewable energy sources; build […]
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 […]
FiRe Receives Over 40 Submissions In Its Third Cycle, Seeks Coaches And Working Group Members
February 17, 2016At COP21, world leaders signed on to a new global climate deal that aims to limit world temperature rise to well below two degrees, continue $100 billion a year in climate finance, and ramp up action every five years. Businesses, and regions also committed to work to transition to a low-carbon economy; more than 450 […]
Bloomberg Philanthropies And Partners Launch Third Annual FiRe Climate Finance Challenge
October 13, 2015LONDON—Today, at the first European Regional Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Summit in London, Bloomberg Philanthropies, BNEF, and Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) launched the third funding cycle for the Finance for Resilience (FiRe) initiative, an innovative platform to identify, launch, and scale up private sector financing mechanisms for climate-friendly projects worldwide. As world leaders continue preparations for […]
FiRe Winner CarbonCount™ Certifies $118.6 Million Green Bond Offering By Hannon Armstrong
October 1, 2015The CarbonCount™ methodology, which became a FiRe winner in April 2015, is now fully operational, having been used to certify the greenhouse gas emissions reductions of a $118 million “green” bond offering completed on September 30, 2015 by Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc. (NYSE: HASI). CarbonCount™ is a metric developed by the Alliance to Save […]
FiRe Winner Leading Off-Grid Solar Solutions For Households In Ghana
April 27, 2015Creating a debt fund for prepaid energy access is a winning FiRe intervention, championed by Simon Bransfield-Garth of Azuri Technologies Ltd in 2014. The fund would provide debt finance to prepaid energy service providers, securitised against the assets and forward revenue streams from customers, delivering electricity access to off-grid populations in developing countries. In partnership […]
BNEF Summit Selects Four FiRe Winners For 2015
April 20, 2015Four high impact innovations to speed up the provision of finance for clean energy in developed and developing countries have been selected as Finance for Resilience (FiRe) winners for 2015, at the leading international conference on the future of energy. Delegates at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York this week voted for ideas (known as […]
FiRe Judges Select Eight New Finalists For 2015
March 17, 2015The FiRe panel of energy and finance experts has pre-selected eight new ideas with significant potential to accelerate investment in clean energy and climate finance worldwide. The panel convened on 11 March to choose eight finalists from the top 24 proposals that had already passed the initial screening. The finalists are proposing cutting-edge financial tools […]
FiRe And BAML Held A Workshop On Green Bonds
February 16, 2015On 12 February, 2015, Finance for Resilience (FiRe) co-hosted a workshop with one of its last year’s winners, Suzanne Buchta from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) and her colleagues. The workshop aimed to educate and generate discussion and debate among key pension fund advisors in the UK on the topic of green bonds and […]
FiRe 2014 Winner RMI Launches Business Renewables Center
February 11, 2015One of the six FiRe 2014 winners, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), launched its Business Renewables Center (BRC) at the start of the month. The BRC accelerates investment flows from large companies into clean energy projects, aiming to double the installed capacity for solar and wind in the US by 2025. The BRC acts as a […]