Follow the REEEP delegation on this page, which will be updated throughout the following weeks with the latest photos and impressions from COP22.

Tuesday, November 8th

REEEP attends the event 'Zambia and Renewable Energy: Rural Electrification Technology Transfer' to learn more about south-south cooperation and technology transfer for renewable energy technologies in Zambia and Ghana, particularly off-grid solutions such as mini hydro and solar home systems.

Meanwhile, REEEP Governing Board Chair Henry Derwent and Director General Martin Hiller spent the afternoon in back-to-back meetings with REEEP partners.

In the early evening, REEEP DG Martin Hiller was on the panel of the UNIDO side event on Sustainable Development Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure:

The more access to private finance for small actors is achieved, the more access to finance is happening and the more you start to industrialize from the very ground level up. This brings prosperity to where it is most needed.

The Climate Knowledge Brokers Group was represented by Claire Mathieson from CDKN and SouthSouthNorth during a side event on Knowledge Management for Africa. She presented the CKB Manifesto and, with the rest of the panel, discussed climate knowledge brokering challenges on the continent, especially related to the interface between science and policy making.

Thursday, November 10th

Standing room only at the REEEP, ICETT and PFAN side event on NDC-driven SME Climate Finance Pathways for Developing Countries. This event was also covered by the IISD reporting services.

We all agree on the important role of MSMEs, since they make up the bulk of employment in the productive sector in most developing countries and can account for up to 90% of all business, but what we need to unlock their potential for combatting climate change is financing in the hundreds of billions of USD. In the end, what is needed is good projects and mutual understanding between all parties, then a high profit margin is no longer an important requirement.

- Ari Huhtala, CDKN

REEEP has developed a number of funds and financing models that are able to leverage SMEs' equity, in order to blend these sources of finance and make SMEs more attractive to national or international development banks. Such funds can produce great contributions to individual country NDCs.

- Mark Fogarty, First Energy Asia and REEEP Governing Board

Earlier today, REEEP DG Martin Hiller spoke at a panel organised by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), titled 'Améliorer l’efficience des services et leur résilience au milieu urbain dans les pays francophone, pour une implémentation efficace des Accords de Paris et des NDCs.'

Investment does not follow money - it follows information. In order to attract investment we have to provide information and bring out more understanding for SMEs.

Martin Hiller was also on the panel at an event by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) titled 'Energy Access and Climate Change through the Energy-Water-Food Nexus'. The panel discussion, much in line with the rest of the COP, was focused ways to put ideas into action, to move forward on policy and practice to address the interconnected systems involving energy, water and food and climate change.

Guarantee funds are needed to familiarise finance institutions with investing in SMEs – these loans will function as a trigger and help to bring SMEs over the tipping point.

The final event on the schedule was the side event 'Climate Change, Clean Energy and Urban Water', organised by REEEP, UNIDO, the South African Department of Environmental Affairs and the EU Directorate General for Climate Action. During this event, the EU-funded pilot initiative for market-based clean energy technologies and services deployment in South African municipal water works was officially announced (read more about REEEP's involvement in this pilot here).

I am looking forward to the outcomes of this pilot model, to test adequate policies and understand what works to move forward, especially when we consider that more than a third of the municipalities’ energy budgets are spent on water pumps, water treatment and other water resources.

- Tlou Ramaru, South African Department of Environmental Affairs

The overall focus of this project is tackling the issue that the private and the public sectors still are not able to engage on many levels, this is why we are trying to catalyze change and identify linkages between the municipalities providing public services and the private sector making money.

- Alois Mhlanga, UNIDO

The REEEP delegation at COP22:

Friday, November 11th

At the side event Accelerating Investment for Low Carbon, Climate Resilient Projects in Africa, organised by PFAN, key stakeholders discussed issues ways to facilitate investment in low carbon, climate resilient projects and businesses in Africa, and thereby scale up efforts in meeting the climate commitments of the countries in the region.

Saturday and Sunday, November 12th and 13th

On the weekend, REEEP attended the Development and Climate Days, where practitioners discussed real solutions and actions for the climate change challenge, with a focus on adaptation, migration and resilience. There was a call for an inside-out COP, where actions and practitioners take center stage, and negotiators and ministers observe, listen and answer questions.

Monday, November 14th

Today, DG Martin Hiller met with delegations from Mali, Senegal and Togo to explore synergies and opportunities for cooperation.

Tuesday, November 15th

This morning, REEEP attended the PFAN Outreach Breakfast, where key stakeholders were updated on the recent governance and institutional changes related to PFAN, in particular the new hosting arrangement with UNIDO and REEEP.  The participating stakeholders discussed perspectives on a vision for PFAN in the medium-term, and shared thoughts on scaling up PFAN activities in emerging economies and developing countries and how best to position PFAN in the climate finance space.