Innovating Financial Mechanisms for Promoting a Clean Energy Transition and Energy Efficiency in the MENA Region

This project seeks to conduct an energy efficiency market analysis of the commercial and industrial private sectors in these countries. It will enhance understanding of the systemic factors that enhance or constrain women’s and youth’s access to business opportunities in clean energy innovation and entrepreneurship, and document promising best practices.

An important focus will be on how energy-efficiency projects could generate benefits for the private sector, including identifying potential financing options and conditions for investments in these sectors. The project is expected to strengthen the evidence base, enhance research capacity and enable effective communications and research uptake. By providing a clearer understanding of the barriers to energy efficiency/renewable energy investments from regional and gender-based perspectives, the results of this research are meant to improve the design of future sustainable energy-efficiency investment vehicles.

Investments in sustainable energy transitions and energy efficiency in developing countries are on the rise, but still need to be taken to scale. Countries seek to improve evidence-based policy to scale up innovations on energy efficiency, financing instruments in inclusive low-carbon transitions, and to inform the business models for institutional and private investors. However, knowledge gaps persist around the types of evidence needed to inform piloting and scaling of clean energy best practices (enterprises and business models) to ensure just transition that takes account of women’s and youth’s needs for a greater transformational impact.