• Proparco commits $15 millionto the African Transition Acceleration Fund (ATAF), a vehicle targeting early-stage climate infrastructure in Africa.
• The fund targets $200 million and plans to invest $10 million to $30 million per project across roughly 14 platforms or companies.
• The strategy focuses on clean electricity, decarbonized molecules, and sustainable transport to accelerate low-carbon infrastructure development.

French development finance institution Proparco has committed $15 million to the African Transition Acceleration Fund (ATAF), becoming one of the first investors in the pan-African vehicle dedicated to climate infrastructure. In a statement published on March 12, the subsidiary of the French Development Agency (FDA) group said the investment forms part of a broader $200 million fundraising effort for the fund.

The move also reflects Proparco’s increasing focus on Africa, which accounted for 47% of its activity in 2024, as the institution expands its investments in technology, climate projects and small and medium-sized enterprises to improve access to capital.

The new pan-African fund will finance early-stage climate infrastructure projects through equity and quasi-equity investments. The fund plans to support around 14 companies or infrastructure development platforms, with individual investment tickets ranging from $10 million to $30 million. Asset manager African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) sponsors the initiative and will manage the fund.

Moreover, the strategy will focus primarily on three segments linked to the energy transition: clean electricity, decarbonized molecules and sustainable transport. The fund aims to support the development of project pipelines and accelerate the deployment of low-carbon infrastructure across Africa, according to the statement. Proparco said the investment seeks to address the persistent shortage of capital for infrastructure projects in their early development phases.

“In Africa, one of the main obstacles to the energy transition remains the lack of capital available to develop projects upstream. By supporting ATAF from its first closing, Proparco helps structure an instrument capable of filling this gap and accelerating bankable climate infrastructure across the continent,” said Tibor Asboth, head of Private Equity for Africa and the Middle East at Proparco.

The investment comes as Africa faces a significant financing gap in the energy sector. In its report Financing Electricity Access in Africa, published in October 2025, the International Energy Agencysaid equity investments dedicated to electricity access in Africa averaged $450 million per year between 2019 and 2023. However, the agency said investors directed most of that capital toward mature companies and established markets.

The same report estimates that about $15 billion per year will be required to achieve universal electricity access by 2035, highlighting the scale of the capital shortfall at the early stages of project development.

This article was initially published in French by Abdoullah Diop

Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum