Steve Lewis

Africa-UK physics partnership collaborative research projects grant from Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Apply for funding for collaborative physics-led projects addressing the challenges of climate change, energy, and capacity building, across African economies. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for STFC funding and have a project co-lead based at a research organisation in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, or Uganda. Projects must start by February 2025 and finish by March 2027. The total fund amount is £5 million. STFC will fund 10 to 15 projects lasting up to 24 months and will fund 80% of the full economic cost (FEC). STFC will fund 100% of the costs for international applicants. https://buff.ly/4cWVjjl #funding #investing #fintech #technology #sustainability #growth #cybersecurity #environment #food #automation #automotive #recycling #nutrition #medicine #robotics #farming #augmentedreality #neuroscience #grants #ukgrants #startupgrants #businessgrants #ukgovernmentgrant #sme #smegrant #businessfunding #smefunding #technologygrant #innovationgrant #capti #captiinnovation #gamechanging #gamechanginginnovation #disruptiveinnovation #smartgrant #ai #manufacturing #sustainable #innovation #telecoms #semiconductors #business #IUK #InnovateUK #SmartGrant #InnovateUKfunding

African Impact YieldCo Click https://bit.ly/3EuIY5W to connect with this new Opportunity Ref: AIDB-018967. Executive Summary Provided by Client: Gaia Africa Climate Fund is a US200m Article 9 fund domiciled in Luxembourg. The Fund is focusing on providing a responsible exit to traditional early-stage investors, particularly the renewable developers, offering a releasing opportunity for them in return utilizing the recycled developmental capital into new greenfield projects. This innovative secondary fund market mechanism is a missing-gap in the sub-Saharan African ecosystem and became ranked as a Best Practise initiative by the Heads of State at the President Macron summit last year. Modernizing and enhancing African capital markets by parallel African Stock Exchange listings to mobilise further African private capital into the infrastructure development cycle, representing a financial additionality, increasing the multiplier effect of released infrastructure capital. Serves as a soft entry into Africa, offering both geographical and sectoral known technology diversification by low-risk operational medium-to-large sized solar-wind-hydro assets with a long-term fixed cash flow return in USD yielding in average 15%. Disclaimer: No due diligence has been done on this business opportunity. Users are requested to do their own research. #africa #Luxembourg #sustainabledevelopment #impactinvesting #financialinclusion #africarising #socialimpact #socialinnovation

Given the global climate change, food and water resources management will become an increasingly important topic. While the US has structures in place to build broad, long-lasting resource management systems, other countries don't have that luxury. Access to food and water is a source of instability everywhere, so I think the private sector has a duty to help solve these critical problems. #Water #ResourceManagement #PrivateSector

We are delighted to announce that Kristjan Raude, CEO & Co-Founder at 1MTN, will be speaking at AFSIC - Investing in Africa, 7-9th October 2024. Company Overview: 1MTN is a high-quality nature-based carbon removal project developer. Our mission is to restore one million hectares of degraded land in Africa by 2030 with polyculture native or naturalised bamboo planting. Our projects combat the triple challenge of climate change, biodiversity loss, and equitable development, directly addressing 8 SDGs.We are headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, operating in East Africa with boots-on-the-ground teams in Kampala, Uganda and Nairobi, Kenya. At 1MTN, we are driven by the triple bottom line: People, Planet, Profit. We prioritise sustainable solutions that benefit both the environment and the communities we serve. Our approach transcends the more traditional non-profit model in Africa by advocating for sustainability through a business framework that equally values social, environmental, and financial outcomes. This 3P strategy ensures that our initiatives are impactful and sustainable in the long term. Our primary solution focuses on the restoration of degraded lands through polyculture native or naturalised bamboo cultivation. This method is more cost-effective than newer carbon direct air capture technologies and offers extensive co-benefits. Bamboo is highly effective at sequestering carbon, revitalise natural ecosystems, and generates sustainable biomass and timber. (To maintain forest health, bamboo needs to be thinned annually starting in years 3-4.) With the bamboo planting and the sustainable harvesting of bamboo biomass we are creating a local bioeconomy, providing an additional revenue stream for the project and extending its socio-economic impact beyond the immediate communities (impact across the whole value chain). Register NOW to attend AFSIC – Africa’s Investment Event, 7-9th October 2024. London #afsic #afsic2024 #investinginafrica #africaninvestment #africafinance

A new economic model focused on sustainable use of the Amazon’s resources and supporting indigenous communities could transform conservation efforts while improving local livelihoods. Researchers from six countries propose this innovative approach, called #SocioBioeconomy (SBE), as a path to protect the world’s largest rainforest and its inhabitants. For decades, large-scale deforestation and exploitation of the Amazon have been justified in the name of economic development. However, this approach has failed to deliver widespread benefits to local communities. Professor Rachael Garrett from the University of Cambridge explains: “Half a century of deforestation and exploitation of the Amazon has not resulted in widespread development, and now the economic value of deforested areas is threatened, not to mention the threats to the global climate and water security.” The proposed SBE model aims to build on the successes of indigenous and traditional communities. It focuses on using and restoring Amazonian ecosystems sustainably while supporting local populations. Examples of SBE activities include eco-friendly tourism and the sustainable harvest of plant products for foods, beverages, clothing, and medicines. https://lnkd.in/ew3CaR3S

The charity that serves as a major watchdog on corporate climate commitments faces allegations that it’s caving to industry pressure to relax standards. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) assesses companies’ sustainability pledges and develops standards for how companies can set goals to fight climate change that are backed by science. SBTi’s policies are supposed to prevent greenwashing, which is when companies make misleading statements about their environmental impact. One way SBTi has tried to crack down on greenwashing is by limiting the use of carbon offsets. Offsets are supposed to cancel out some of a company’s carbon footprint, even though that’s often only reflected on paper and not in the real world. SBTi’s tough stance on carbon offsets has provoked the ire of industry bigwigs and some policymakers, who rely on offsets and say that SBTi’s standards are too tough to meet. The quarrel came to a head last week, when SBTi put out an explosive statement seeming to soften its stance on offsets, giving companies a potentially easier way out of actually reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. The conflict is far from over, and the outcome could influence whether companies’ commitments regarding climate change move them toward using more renewable energy or more offsets instead. The conflict is far from over, and the outcome could influence whether companies’ commitments regarding climate change move them toward using more renewable energy or more offsets instead Tellingly, Jeff Bezos and his billions seem to play a role in the debacle. Since 2020, when the e-commerce tycoon launched the $10 billion Earth Fund, Bezos has tried to remake himself as a major climate philanthropist even as Amazon’s greenhouse gas emissions skyrocketed. SBTi has been around since 2015, but the Bezos Earth Fund became one of its major funders in 2021 with an $18 million grant. At meetings hosted by the Bezos Earth Fund in London in March, lobbying groups peppered representatives from SBTi with “a barrage of implicit and direct requests to relax their position on carbon offsets,” Bloomberg reported over the weekend. Things even got physical during a side conversation, according to Bloomberg, when a “pro-offsets attendee” grabbed an SBTi staff member by the shoulder. Earlier that month, SBTi had removed more than 200 companies from its list of vetted corporate climate commitments, including companies as well-known as Microsoft, Unilever, and Walmart. In 2023, SBTi also delisted Amazon, whose CO2 emissions have increased by nearly 40 percent since the company pledged in 2019 to cut that pollution down to net zero. Weeks after the meeting, on April 9th, the SBTi Board of Trustees released a statement that sent such a shock through the organization that at least one of its scientific advisors reportedly resigned. The statement said that certificates representing carbon offsets could be used to address

🏥💊 Looking into Better #health services, more likely to be provided with a reliable & high-quality #energy supply - The current COVID19 crisis has brought into sharp relief the adverse impact lack of #electricity has on #health outcomes, especially in rural areas. Energy poverty makes it difficult to adequately treat COVID-19 patients who need a ventilator, & the lack of #refrigeration also makes it difficult to get the vaccine to un-electrified health facilities. Across all the main health facilities #Zambia, only 27.5 percent of those in #remote areas have a functional connection to the grid. This means that more than 60% of the rural #population are locked out from modern health services - https://lnkd.in/dmeeE9wF