Today marks the launch of the Leapfrog Alliance, a new non-profit coalition calling for stronger incentives to increase corporate investment in clean energy access in unelectrified and underserved communities globally.
Clean energy investments must at least triple by 2030 to over USD $4 trillion annually to keep global warming within the 1.5°C pathway. Corporate clean energy procurement serves as a critical lever for accelerating and scaling power sector decarbonization. Climate mitigation and adaptation investments have historically overlooked the world’s least electrified communities, perpetuating limited access to electricity and the risk of fossil energy system lock-in. For example, only 2% of the $3 trillion invested globally in clean energy in recent years went to communities in Africa even though 75% of the world’s population without electricity access live on the continent.
This is why Energy Peace Partners (EPP), along with a global community of 11 other nonprofits, have come together to form the Leapfrog Alliance. This initiative calls upon policymakers and standards bodies to encourage and allow companies to dedicate up to 10% of their global clean energy procurement to projects that support increased clean energy access in unelectrified and underserved communities. Leapfrog Alliance supporters represent diverse perspectives and expertise across the climate and climate equity, energy, and development space currently include the Africa Minigrid Developers Association (AMDA), African Climate Change Research Centre (ACCREC), Clean Energy Buyers Institute (CEBI), Council for Inclusive Capitalism, Energy Peace Partners (EPP), International Tracking Standard Foundation (I-TRACK Foundation), PeacePro, Peace Department, RECS Energy Certificate Association, RMI, State Fragility Initiative, and Unite to Light. Other nonprofits are welcome to join and can submit an application to join the Leapfrog Alliance by completing this form.
Over the past five years, corporate support for clean energy has increased dramatically. By procuring clean energy, most commonly in the same countries or regions where they consume electricity, companies can decarbonize the emissions they report from their electricity use. The result of this greenhouse gas related incentive to procure clean energy is additional revenue for clean energy projects that increases their investment appeal and accelerates global power sector decarbonization.
However, clean energy procurement and greenhouse gas accounting frameworks currently disincentivize companies from supporting clean energy projects outside of the national or regional boundaries of a given company’s operations or its respective value chain partners’ operations. By introducing a selective and targeted social impact-oriented exemption to existing “geographic matching” requirements for clean energy procurement, policymakers and standard bodies will incentivize companies that procure clean energy to support transformative clean energy projects in communities with limited to no reliable electricity access, including in fragile and conflict-affected countries. This exemption for corporate clean energy claims will provide companies a tangible new incentive to optimize their impact strategies while advancing clean energy deployment to the communities currently with the least electricity access.
With market evolutions like this geographic matching exemption, we can chip away at the climate finance and climate equity gap everywhere and advance toward a future state where everyone everywhere gains access to clean energy while maintaining greenhouse gas accounting integrity.
Learn more about the Leapfrog Alliance, including its principles and governance, here.
Please share any questions or submit your own leapfrog showcase for consideration to EPP via leapfrogalliance@energypeacepartners.com.