PROJECTS
Evaluation of the Beyond the Grid Fund for Zambia (BGFZ) (2024)
Nefco commissioned Greencroft Economics to undertake an ex-post evaluation of BGFZ, which ran from 2016 to 2022 and: (1) provided results-based finance grants and technical assistance, (2) set up an off-grid task force, and (3) developed a data platform called EDISON.
The evaluation provides lessons learnt and recommendations for the off-grid energy sector as a whole, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, and future initiatives to enhance off-grid energy access and market development.
Green Bond Guidelines and Taxonomy – technical assistance to the IFC and Bangladesh Bank (2022)
The IFC commissioned Greencroft Economics to support the central bank of Bangladesh to undertake market research on the develop of green and other labelled bond markets, and to support the drafting of a green bond financing policy and taxonomy for the use of green bond proceeds.
The team supported Bangladesh Bank to develop a green bond policy and taxonomy aligned to international standards while also reflecting the priorities and context of Bangladesh’s priorities for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and broader environmental objectives. This resulted in BB's Sustainable Finance Department Policy Circular in September 2022.
Clean Cooking Unit Economics Framework and Toolkit (2024)
The Clean Cooking Alliance commissioned Greencroft Economics to develop a first of its kind clean cooking unit economic framework to represent a wide range of clean cooking technologies, business models, and market contexts.
The publicly available report and toolkit provide insights for clean cooking ventures, investors, and programme managers on a range of cost centres and how they evolve with scale and in different market contexts, and on revenue generating potential from both sales of clean cooking technologies and related outcome markets.
Clean cooking – pro-poor subsidy strategy and rural feasibility study (2022)
Cooking technologies like LPG are reaching further into urban and rural household customer segments, helping provide access to clean and modern cooking technologies for the roughly 2.4 billion people who live each day without it.
Greencroft Economics worked with the Clean Cooking Alliance and LPG cooking provider Circle Gas to develop a pro-poor subsidy strategy to expand their offering deeper into urban Kenya and Tanzania, and to undertake a feasibility study of expansion into increasingly rural areas.
Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report (2022)
While the off-grid solar has expanded rapidly since its emergence in 2012, reaching almost 500 million people, it will need to reach a further 624 million people by 2030 if the SDG 7 goal of universal access to energy is to be realised.
The biennial off-grid solar market trends report provides a comprehensive wrap up of progress in the sector over the past two years, and provides a separate outlook for the sector in the coming decade.
For the second consecutive edition, Greencroft Economics was one of the lead authors of this flagship Lighting Global study, working alongside lead consultants Open Capital.
Market potential for electricity access for displaced persons and host communities in the Sahel (2022)
The World Bank commissioned a consortium led by TTA to assess the socioeconomic context, map the key stakeholders, and develop modelling and scenarios for providing electricity access to displaced persons and the surrounding communities across the Sahel.
Greencroft Economics provided the economic modelling of market potential including simulating willingness to pay for, and cost of providing, off-grid energy solutions for a range of technologies and business models. The outputs help inform intervention programming in the region.
Evaluation of FMO's role in off-the grid electricity sector (2022)
The Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) commissioned Greencroft Economics to evaluate its investment, capacity development and support to wider sector initiatives between 2014 and 2020.
The team analysed a portfolio of 19 investments, and a range of capacity development initiatives, exploring the key drivers of success and lessons learned for the FMO and for other sector players. The output is the report alongside, and a range of supporting analysis to support the FMO to maximise its impact in the off-grid electricity sector in future.
AgDevCo SDU Portfolio Review & Strategic Outlook (2021)
AgDevCo commissioned a consortium of Open Capital and Greencroft Economics to carry out a comprehensive review of the experience and lessons learned from its smallholder development unit (SDU). The review covered the SDU's work with over 20 African agri-businesses, and assessed the reach, depth, additionality, sustainability, and transformational change achieved by each partnership. The review also considered the SDU's role in driving broader market changes and the value delivered from peer-to-peer learning across the portfolio.
Finally, the consultant team supported the AgDevCo to develop a strategic outlook for its second generation technical assistance facility to deliver impact with agribusinesses in the coming five years.
Future Cities South Africa - Economic Appraisal (2020-22)
Robust infrastructure and policy planning is crucial for cities in a rapidly urbanising world. Using economic appraisal tools such as cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) supports policy makers in weighing up the costs and benefits of major projects and policies, and understanding how impacts are distributed spatially, temporarily, and among communities and businesses.
Working collaboratively with a PwC-led consortium through the UK FCDO’s Future Cities South Africa program, Greencroft Economics is supporting the City of Cape Town to develop economic appraisal tools and apply these tools to evaluate the relative costs and benefits of infrastructure projects, building on international best practice and benchmarks.
Burundi Off-Grid Energy Market Assessment (2020)
Access to reliable energy is a major constraint on growth and inclusive development in Burundi with just 11% of the population having access - almost all in urban centres Bujumbura, Gitega and Ngozi. This paper identifies ways to support a budding entrepreneurial ecosystem, linking to international value chains, and makes recommendations for development partners to phase and target financial and non-financial support to catalyse the market.
Greencroft led the analysis in this assessment, including engaging with over 40 stakeholders in Bujumbura, Gitega and Kayanza.
Resource mobilisation and capacity for climate smart agriculture in the SADC region (2020)
Southern Africa is one of the fastest warming regions of the world, experiencing increasingly variable weather patterns, and higher frequency of devastating climate events. Future climate projections show these current trends are expected to worsen significantly in the region, posing a real challenge to rural, agricultural economies and communities.
GIZ, through the Adaptation to Climate Change in Rural Areas (ACCRA) programme, commissioned Greencroft Economics to support the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), to investigate potential sources of climate finance for climate smart agriculture (CSA), to provide training workshops, and to support CSA concept note and proposal development.
Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report 2020
What future for "off-grid" energy solutions in supporting attainment of the SDG7 goal of universal access to energy? How will the sector evolve even as grid-based electricity expands? And what can be done to make sure commercial markets thrive, while also leaving no-one behind? This report examines these questions, and discusses how a sector that has already reached 400 million people can continue to evolve and innovate, while expanding to reach more than 800 million people in the coming decade.
Greencroft was one of the lead authors of this flagship Lighting Global study, working alongside Vivid Economics and Open Capital.
AgDevCo Smallholder Development Unit - Review of Knowledge-Sharing Workshops (2019)
How can experience and expertise from one agribusiness drive innovation and change for smallholder farmers at the other side of the continent? What are the best formats, techniques, and topics to generate learnings and maximise impact of technical assistance facilities working to both support commercial agribusinesses and also improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers at scale?
To answer these questions, Greencroft reviewed the SDU's knowledge-sharing workshops, interviewing 20+ African agribusinesses.
Energy Insight - Beyond Energy Access (2020)
While there has been much focus on achieving universal access to energy - enshrined in SDG7 - increasingly the focus is shifting to the quality of energy access, and the services that modern and reliable energy underpins.
This Energy Insight for the Energy and Economic Growth applied research programme examines the extent to which poor-quality grid access continues to represent a challenge in emerging economies, presents evidence on the scale of unreliable grids and their impact on economic development, and describes some of the emerging technologies and business models to address the unreliability challenge.