One of the world’s leading private financers of projects in all spheres of human life, the Rockefeller Foundation, has pledged continued support to Malawi as the country ups efforts to adapt and mitigate effects of climate change.
The Foundation made the commitment for support through its President, Rajiv Shah, when he met President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Wednesday in Egypt on the sidelines of COP27.
The Rockefeller Foundation came strongly onto the climate change platform last year in Glasgow at the COP26 when they pledged to inject US10 billion towards climate adaptation and mitigation initiatives across the globe.
Related to Malawi, the Foundation has put in some funds in the US$27 million grant for the implementation of a grid battery-powered project by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP). The Rockefeller Foundation is part of the alliance.
The battery powered project is an investment that will support Malawi’s transition towards clean energy as a sustainable remedy for climate-induced effects on livelihoods.
The GEAPP deal is one of two that Malawi has clinched at the COP27.
Malawi also signed an agreement with AMEA Power, a multinational Independent Power Producer (IPP) to produce 50 megawatts of solar electricity as well as install power storage facilities.
The deal was ratified by Minister of Energy, Ibrahim Matola and Chairman of AMEA, Hussein Nouwais. President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera witnessed the ceremony.
President Chakwera has since urged all the investors and Malawi government officials to expedite the implementation of the project and instructed Matola to get to work and ensure there are no red tape delays in the process.