Vienna, 18 July – UNIDO held a senior-level announcement event for the Accelerate-to-Demonstrate (A2D) Facility’s first Call-for-Proposals. The event, led by UNIDO Director General Gerd Müller and Corinne Kitsell, Ambassador at the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations, marks a significant milestone for the A2D Facility and underscores the shared commitment and strong partnership between UNIDO and the UK in advancing inclusive and sustainable industrial development and climate action in developing countries through innovative technological solutions. More than 400 attendees in-person and online demonstrated the strong interest in the new A2D Facility.

The A2D Facility aims to accelerate the commercialization of innovative clean energy solutions in developing countries by providing grant support for the implementation and operation of demonstration projects with catalytic and scalable potential. The first call-for-proposals focuses on critical minerals, clean hydrogen, smart energy and industrial decarbonization.

Director General Müller stressed that “these are the areas that are absolutely necessary for the global clean energy transition. Developing countries are where we need support for innovation in clean energy transitions the most. But grant funding for them is limited and access to finance very difficult. The A2D Facility will speed up developing and deploying the clean energy solutions we need and will make a significant contribution to decarbonization efforts in industries in developing countries.” He thanked the UK Government for making UNIDO the implementation partner for the Facility and for providing £65 million of initial funding.

Ambassador Kitsell highlighted that A2D will deliver real change in the collective efforts against climate change by encouraging tangible solutions that will help businesses to decarbonize. She explained that the Facility focuses on demonstration projects in developing countries and is designed to help bring down the costs of bringing to market the innovative solutions that are needed for countries to meet their climate targets. She emphasized that half of the global emissions reductions required for this will need to come from technologies that are still in demonstration stage – the kind of projects the A2D facility will support.

The announcement event was marked by strong support from the Ambassadors holding the chairsmanships of regional groups, who presented their perspectives on climate action and sustainable industrial development, and highlighted the important contribution that the A2D Facility will play in supporting clean energy transitions in their regions. Ambassador Philbert Abaka Johnson, Permanent Representative of Ghana to UNIDO and Chair of the African Group pointed out that thus far less than 2% of global investments in renewable energy are made in the region, stressing the need for investment in innovation and energy access on the African continent. Ambassador Evangelina Lourdes Bernas, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to UNIDO and Chair of the Asia-Pacific Group noted that almost 85% of the energy consumption in the region is still based on fossil fuels and welcomed that the new A2D Facility explicitly considers country-specific context and supports local-led development. In his remarks on behalf of the chair of the GRULAC Group, Natanael Pineda, from the Embassy of Panama emphasized the region’s great potential with abundant renewable energy sources. The event was moderated by Ciyong Zou, Deputy to the Director General and Managing Director, and also included presentations from Paul Durrant, Head of Climate Innovation, DESNZ, UK Government and Peter Warren, A2D Facility Manager at UNIDO

The Call-for-Proposals is open from 8 July to 19 August 2024. The event also launched the A2D Facility Year 1 Annual Report and the website.

Information about the Call-for-Proposals can be found here:

• https://www.ungm.org/Public/Notice/239752
• https://www.unido.org/get-involved-procurement/procurement-opportunities (reference number: 7000007043)

Questions related to the Call-for-Proposals should be directed to: c.ziniel@unido.org cc: j.gavranic@unido.org and e.dorner@unido.org.

For more information about the A2D Facility, please visit A2DFacility.unido.org and the A2D Facility’s LinkedIn Account. If you would like to sign-up to the A2D Facility stakeholder mailing list to stay updated on the programme, including receiving the latest news on projects and publications, impacts, funding opportunities, dissemination activities, and other updates, please register here or contact: A2DFacility@unido.org to be added to the mailing list.