The shortlist for the highly coveted NDC Investment Awards, sponsored by the African Green Infrastructure Investment Bank (AfGIIB), was unveiled at UN Climate Week in New York, following the UN Secretary Generals Ambition Summit.
These first-of-their-kind global African climate investment awards, launched at COP27 in Egypt and showcased during the successful Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, are designed to raise ambition, globally recognize achievements across the main NDC project sectors, inspire and reward governments, developers, investors and development partners, driving private climate capital mobilization and improving the investment readiness of Africa’s NDC projects, which require over $3 trillion of investment by 2030.
This year’s awards see the addition of Presidential Investment Statesman of the Year Awards, and exciting new private capital mobilisation and multi-stakeholder categories, such as the Best Investable NDC Adaption Initiative of the Year, Best Bankable Donor NDC Initiative of the Year, Best Blended Investment NDC Initiative of the Year, Best Financeable NDC City Initiative of the Year, Best GreenTech NDC Initiative of the Year and the Best Youth NDC Investment Initiative of the Year.
The shortlist includes 160 projects public and private sector sponsored projects, representing approximately USD 40bn of NDC financing and investment opportunities, from 43 African countries, covering all 5 African sub regions.
The 2023 NDC Investment Awards high-level Adjudication panel consist of:
- Dr. Hubert Danso, Chairman of Africa investor and the Chair of the NDC Awards Adjudication panel.
- Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and UN SRSG for Sustainable Energy for All, Co-Chair of UN-Energy.
- John Denton, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
- Kandeh Yumkella, Former UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General and CEO.
- Ziad-Alexandre Hayek, President of the World Association of PPP Units (WAPPP).
Commenting from New York at the shortlist announcement, Dr. Hubert Danso, Chairman of Africa investor (Ai) and the Chair of the NDC Investment Awards Adjudication panel, said,
“We are delighted during this critical leadership year of Africa’s COP27 Presidency, the successful Africa Climate Summit, the SDG review and the COP Global Stocktake, to host these ambitious 2023 NDC Investment Award candidates success stories, which reinforce Africa’s investment competitiveness and central role as the world’s green industrial investment destination. The opportunities that governments and investors have, to collaborate through institutional investor-public partnerships (IIPPs), and to co-create ambitious, at scale blended investments that optimally marry regional and global market demand with Africa’s industrial and just energy system transformation, transition and growth, will ensure the continent optimises its share of the $10trn pa and growing global green industrial economy, assisting accelerate investment in a just energy future for Africa and the world.”
The 2023 NDC Investment awards winners will be announced at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
See the below 2023 NDC Investment Awards shortlist nominees:
1. Best Waste NDC Initiative of the Year
| No. | Project Name | Country |
| 1. | The Power of Waste- Phoenix Edison | Nigeria |
| 2. | Zero Organic Waste to Landfills | Zimbabwe |
| 3. | Empowering waste pickers to create a sustainable waste management system; | Ghana |
| 4. | Mega Gas Alternative Energy Enterprise Ltd | Kenya |
| 5. | Women re- and up cycling plastic trash | Nigeria |
| 6. | Clean-Seas Morocco | Morocco |
| 7. | National Solid Waste Management Program | Egypt |
| 8. | Employment promotion for women for the green transformation in Africa (WE4D) | Kenya, Mozambique,
South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda |
| 9. | Sabi Recycling | Nigeria |
| 10. | Sustainable Waste Management (Phasing Out Open Waste Burning) | Continent Wide |
2. Best Energy NDC Initiative of the Year
| No. | Project Name | Country |
| 1. | 60 Mw Solar Plant in Salama District | Malawi |
| 2. | Lekela Power | Morocco |
| 3. | BOAD Climate Finance Facility to Scale Up Solar Investments in Francophone Countries | West Africa |
| 4. | The Energy Transition Accelerator Scale green hydrogen infrastructure | Kenya |
| 5. | Siwa Solar PV Plant | Egypt |
| 6. | Renewable Energy Assets | Kenya |
| 7. | Port Victoria Wind power project | Seychelles |
| 8. | Morocco Solar Home Systems | Morocco |
| 9. | Ile de Romainville Solar Park | Seychelles |
| 10. | The Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA) SCALE (Scaling Climate Action by Lowering Emissions) initiative | Africa/ Global |
3. Best Transport NDC Initiative of the Year
| No. | Project Name | Country |
| 1. | BasiGo Ltd | Kenya |
| 2. | Ampersand e-Mobility | Kenya |
| 3. | The New Bugesera International Airport | Rwanda |
| 4. | Electric Light Rail Network Project | Egypt |
| 5. | Jali E-Mobility Financing | Rwanda |
| 6. | Clean Air Africa | East Africa |
| 7. | Facilitating Zambia’s Transition to e-mobility | Zambia |
| 8. | Implementation of One-Stop Joint Border Posts (JBPs) in Africa | Kenya, Burkina Faso, Togo, Cote D’Ivoire, and Mali |
| 9. | Mobility For Africa | Mauritius |
| 10. | Seko E-WAKA project | Kenya |
4. Best Urban Development NDC Initiative of the Year
| No. | Project Name | Country |
| 1. | The City of Nairobi | Kenya |
| 2. | Chongwe Smart City Renewable Energy Project | Zambia |
| 3. | Nexgen Sustainable City | Egypt |
| 4. | Nyandugu Urban Wetland Eco-Tourism Park | Rwanda |
| 5. | Africa Sustainable investment & Infrastructure Programme | Madagascar |
| 6. | SA-One Million Tree Campaign | South Africa |
| 7. | The Parks | South Africa |
| 8. | N’Djamena Urban Resilience Project | Chad |
| 9. | Algeria 5 cities from scratch | Algeria |
| 10. | Green Buildings and Retrofits for Affordable Housing Project | Rwanda |
5. Best Forestry NDC Initiative of the Year
| No. | Project Name | Country |
| 1. | Imperative Global-Carbon Market Facility | Malawi |
| 2. | Debt for nature Swap Instrument | Gabon |
| 3. | Shire Valley Transformation Project (SVTP) | Malawi |
| 4. | Building the Resilience of Local Communities in Zambia through the Introduction of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) into Priority Ecosystems; including Wetlands and Forests | Zambia |
| 5. | Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) into Priority Ecosystems, including Wetlands and Forests | Malawi |
| 6. | Restoring Malawi’s Land to Harness Water Regreening Africa | Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Somali |
| 7. | Tree Value Chain Development 2022-23 Reforestation Campaign | Madagascar |
| 8. | Central Africa Forest Initiative (CAFI) | Gabon |
| 9. | Sustainable charcoal production and cooking stoves in Central Liberia | Liberia |
| 10. | Enabling People to Restore Land in the Central African Republic | Central Africa Republic |
6. Best Financeable NDC City Initiative of the Year
| No. | Project Name | Country |
| 1. | Green City Kigali (GCK) | Rwanda |
| 2. | Eko Atlantic City | Nigeria |
| 3. | Kigali Innovation City (KIC) | Rwanda |
| 4. | Seme City | Benin |
| 5. | Konza Techno City | Kenya |
| 6. | African Green Industrial Cities Initiative | Across African Cities |
| 7. | African Water Cities | Across African Cities |
| 8. | African Smart Cities | Across African Cities |
| 9. | King City | Ghana |
| 10. | Vision City Greening Phase 2 | Rwanda |
7. Best GreenTech NDC Initiative of the Year
| No. | Project Name | Country |
| 1. | Catalyst Fund- Early stage Tech startups | Africa |
| 2. | Kawi Safi 2- Low-carbon technologies | Africa |
| 3. | Farmer Lifeline Technologies | Kenya |
| 4. | D-Olivette Enterprise | Nigeria and Benin |
| 5. | Trees for the Future’s drone project | (Tanzania Mali, Senegal, Kenya, and Uganda) |
| 6. | The Third Eye Project Kenya | Kenya |
| 7. | DigiCow | Kenya |
| 8. | PowerTrust Across Africa | Across Africa |
| 9. | SunCulture | Across Africa |
| 10. | Money4Glass | South Africa |
8. Best Agriculture NDC Initiative of the Year
| No. | Project Name | Country |
| 1. | NNC-Agricultural residue to achieve health and climate benefits from cleaner cooking | Nigeria
|
| 2. | Farming and Solar powered irrigation | (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast) |
| 3. | Akwaaba Feeds | Ghana |
| 4. | Green Again Crop Diagnosis App | Cameroon |
| 5. | Grain Storage Projects Africa | South Africa and Tanzania |
| 6. | The SCARF Project | Tanzania |
| 7. | Akatale on Cloud | Uganda |
| 8. | African Agricultural Transformation Initiative | (Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, Senegal) |
| 9. | Value4Her | Across Africa |
| 10. | AFR100-Restoration of Degraded Land | Across Africa |
9. Best Education NDC Initiative of the Year
| No. | Project Name | Country |
| 1. | Food for Education (F4E) | Kenya |
| 2. | Electric Mission | South Africa |
| 3. | Mozambique Improvement of Skills Development | Mozambique |
| 4. | General Education Quality Improvement Program for Equity (GEQIP-E) | Ethiopia |
| 5. | Somalia Empowering Women through Education and Skills Project – “Rajo Kaaba” | Somalia |
| 6. | Development Regional Teachers’ Initiative in Africa and for Africa | Africa |
| 7. | Global Partnership for Education (GPE) | Africa |
| 8. | Education Cannot Wait (ECW) | Africa |
| 9. | Africa Hydromet Program Strengthening Climate Resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa | Burkina Faso, Mali |
| 10. | Barka Fund | Africa |
10. Best Health NDC Initiative
| No. | Project Name | Country |
| 1. | Arch Holdings’ Clean Cooking | Ghana
|
| 2. | Global Health Corps (GHC) 2022 | (Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, America) |
| 3. | The Friendship Bench Project | Zimbabwe |
| 4. | The Healthy Learners Model Programme | Zambia |
| 5. | Drop Access and Vaccibox Solar Powered Refrigeration | Kenya |
| 6. | Strengthening disease surveillance systems, capacity of laboratories, and staff skills on public health emergency preparedness and coordination | Burkina Faso
|
| 7. | Cabo Verde – Strengthening National Health Security through One Health approach | Cabo Verde |
| 8. | Health emergencies preparedness and response strengthening in Togo | Togo |
| 9. | Yemen pandemic preparedness and response project (PPRP) | Yemen |
| 10. | Zambia… |