Climate Fund Managers | Climate Infrastructure Finance

Climate Fund Managers | Climate Infrastructure Finance

Climate Finance

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 13 – Climate Action, SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals, SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 9 – Industry Innovation and Infrastructure

Company Overview

Climate Fund Managers (CFM) is a blended finance investment manager that raises and deploys capital for climate infrastructure projects in emerging markets across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Founded in 2015, the firm has built a track record using blended financing, a type of public-private partnership structure, to encourage investment in green projects in developing countries that would otherwise struggle to attract private capital. CFM was established as a joint venture between the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO and Sanlam InfraWorks, part of the Sanlam Group of South Africa, and manages the Climate Investor One facility that FMO helped launch in partnership with Phoenix InfraWorks.

The firm structures its investment vehicles around distinct thematic funds. It manages two funds of approximately USD 1 billion each: Climate Investor One, focused on renewable energy, and Climate Investor Two, focused on water, sanitation and oceans infrastructure. It is also raising a third vehicle, the Climate Credit Fund, targeted at post-completion refinancing for renewable energy projects, and preparing a fourth fund focused on green hydrogen.

The company is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, and maintains regional offices in Singapore, Cape Town and Bogotá to manage its investment activity across Asia, Africa and Latin America respectively. In India, CFM has backed renewable energy and waste-to-energy infrastructure through its fund structures, working alongside project developers, government-linked offtakers and international technical advisors

Why These SDGs Matter

SDG 7 is directly relevant because CFM’s flagship fund, Climate Investor One, finances the development, construction and operation of renewable energy projects in emerging markets, directly expanding access to clean power. SDG 6 applies through Climate Investor Two, which finances water, sanitation and ocean infrastructure in underserved regions. SDG 13 is central to CFM’s mandate, since every fund is structured explicitly around climate change mitigation and adaptation outcomes, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy and waste projects. SDG 9 is relevant because CFM finances the construction of physical infrastructure, from wind and solar assets to biogas facilities, that did not previously exist in these markets. SDG 17 reflects CFM’s core operating model: blended finance structures that combine donor capital, development finance institutions and private investors into single financing vehicles, which is itself a partnership mechanism for mobilizing climate capital at scale.

Products & Services
  • Blended finance structuring for climate infrastructure projects
  • Development-stage project finance and de-risking support
  • Construction equity investment for renewable energy assets
  • Water, sanitation and ocean infrastructure financing
  • Post-completion refinancing through private credit vehicles
  • Green hydrogen project investment and structuring
  • Community development programs alongside infrastructure investments
  • Environmental, social and governance risk assessment for projects
Business Challenges Solved
  • Limited private capital appetite for early-stage renewable energy projects in emerging markets
  • High perceived risk deterring institutional investors from developing-market infrastructure
  • Fragmented financing structures slowing project development timelines
  • Insufficient construction-phase equity for large infrastructure builds
  • Lack of long-term refinancing options for completed renewable assets
  • Agricultural residue burning and associated air pollution
  • Underdeveloped water, sanitation and waste infrastructure in target regions
Approach & Methodology

CFM operates through a blended finance model that layers different types of capital, donor grants, concessional loans, development finance institution funding and private equity, into single fund structures. Each fund typically separates project lifecycle stages into distinct vehicles: a development fund that provides early-stage financing for activities that cannot yet attract private capital, and a construction equity fund that meets a substantial share of construction costs alongside project sponsors. This structure is designed to reduce the need for complex multi-party financing arrangements typically required for renewable energy projects, potentially lowering the time and cost of project delivery.

CFM applies combined assurance risk management processes built on industry best practice to support its investments, and assigns each project an environmental and social risk rating. The firm organizes its investment teams regionally, with dedicated heads for Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean, alongside a central Chief Investment Officer function overseeing overall investment activity. For infrastructure builds, CFM typically works with independent technical advisors to verify engineering, environmental and safety compliance, and pairs financing with fixed-price engineering, procurement and construction contracts held by project developers rather than executing construction itself.

Market Position

CFM operates in the blended finance segment of climate infrastructure investment, a niche distinct from conventional private equity or venture capital. The firm prefers to invest in companies and projects operating in business-to-business and energy sectors. It holds assets under management in excess of USD 2.8 billion across roughly 50 active projects, spanning Climate Investor One, Two and Three, and has recently expanded into private credit through the GAIA Climate Loan Fund. Its primary counterparties are project developers, donor institutions, development finance institutions and institutional investors rather than retail customers. Its differentiation lies in structuring multi-stage financing facilities that combine concessional and commercial capital within a single vehicle, a model few comparable firms operate at similar scale in emerging-market climate infrastructure.

Procurement Considerations
  • Confirm which specific fund (CI1, CI2, CI3, GAIA, MCIF) aligns with the project’s sector and stage
  • Understand fund eligibility criteria and target geographies before applying
  • Clarify whether financing needed is at development, construction or post-completion stage
  • Review co-investment and offtake requirements attached to financing
  • Assess timeline expectations, since blended finance structuring can involve multi-party approvals
  • Confirm environmental and social risk rating requirements applicable to the project
  • Evaluate community development program obligations tied to financing
Funding, Recognition & Ecosystem
  • Joint venture shareholders: FMO (Dutch entrepreneurial development bank) and Sanlam InfraWorks
  • Climate Investor One donors include the European Union and Green Climate Fund
  • Green Climate Fund and FMO signed the agreement launching the Climate Investor One programme in 2019 Green Climate Fund
  • Awarded Best Water NDC Investment Initiative of the Year for Climate Investor Two at the NDC Investment Awards during COP28
  • Co-investment partnership with Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund on the Konexa project in Nigeria
  • Partnership with Dutch Fund for Climate and Development and the European Commission on Climate Investor Two
Natnavi Analysis

Climate Fund Managers occupies a structurally important position in climate finance: it specializes in mobilizing capital for exactly the projects that conventional investors tend to avoid, early-stage, emerging-market climate infrastructure with high perceived risk. Its blended finance model, layering donor capital, development finance institution funding and private equity, addresses a genuine market gap rather than duplicating existing commercial financing channels. With confirmed transactions spanning renewable energy, waste-to-biogas and water infrastructure across Africa, Asia and Latin America, including a growing India portfolio in wind energy and compressed biogas, the firm demonstrates a multi-sector, multi-geography track record over a decade of operation.

Its scale, assets under management exceeding USD 2.8 billion, lends it credibility as a mobilizer of climate capital rather than a marginal player. At the same time, as a fund manager rather than a technology provider or operator, CFM’s sustainability impact is realized indirectly through the projects it finances, meaning outcomes are contingent on the performance of underlying developers and assets. Its relevance to India lies in supporting infrastructure gaps, such as agricultural waste-to-energy conversion, that domestic capital markets have been slower to finance at scale.

Sources & References
Website
Founded: 2015
Company Stage: Enterprise
Headquarters
The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands
Geographic Presence
CFM invests across emerging markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America, with confirmed transactions in India, Nigeria, Malawi, Vietnam and Colombia among others. Regional offices in Singapore, Cape Town, Bogotá and Windhoek support origination and asset management across these geographies, alongside its Netherlands headquarters.
Solution Type
Impact Investor, Service Provider
Sustainability Outcomes
Air Quality Improvement, Climate Resilience, Renewable Energy Adoption, Sustainable Infrastructure, Waste Reduction, Water Conservation
Industries Served
Agriculture & Food, Energy & Utilities, Government & Public Sector

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