Response to the International Development Committee inquiry: the UK’s International Climate Finance

We welcome the UK Government’s clear commitment to promoting local participation and equitable partnerships, as shown in UK Government communications and the recent consultation on the UK’s new Approach to Africa.

As a core delivery partner for the Transforming Energy Access Platform (TEA), the main FCDO delivery mechanism for the UK Government’s £1 billion Ayrton Fund, we have firsthand experience of how local participation, management and decision making is embedded in programme design and delivery.

In addition to the examples we have provided here, we would highlight the recently published Ayrton Fund report, Locally Led Action and Equitable Partnerships, which includes a wealth of case studies from across the TEA platform and beyond. These illustrate how, by integrating local expertise, contextual insight and strong local leadership with international best practice, the effectiveness of ICF funded programmes has been maximised, resulting in positive, sustainable outcomes. It also provides actionable insights and guidance for stakeholders to ensure that the design and implementation of programmes is grounded in local agency, leadership and decision making.

The report includes the below case study (Box 1) of the LEIA programme’s Efficiency for Access R&D Fund and a Kenyan social enterprise supported under the Fund, Adili Solar Hubs.

Below we have provided further examples illustrating how the LEIA programme has supported a locally rooted approach:

Kenya Cold Chain Accelerator

The LEIA Kenya Cold Chain Accelerator (KCCA) is an example of a project grounded in local needs. KCCA is focused on taking an integrated approach to addressing the challenges of widespread food loss and waste in agricultural value chains, whilst improving nutrition and strengthening food security in Kenya.

The goal of KCCA is to demonstrate a cold chain market development model that can be replicated at scale through larger, government-led programmes, both within Kenya and elsewhere.

The KCAA aims to achieve this by enabling a critical mass of companies to enhance performance and access commercial financing, whilst at the same time strengthening cross-sectoral dialogue. At the start of the project, government representatives, private sector actors, academia and civil society were convene to co-create the project roadmap.

The project will continue to facilitate cross-sector dialogue to improve coordination and awareness of sustainable cooling solutions and will support the Kenyan government to develop its national productive use of renewable energy (PURE) strategy.  

Efficiency for Access Design Challenge

The Efficiency for Access Design Challenge, delivered by Energy Saving Trust and Engineers Without Borders UK, empowers university student teams to design affordable, high performing off-grid appliances suited to local contexts. Over six years 691 students from 42 universities across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia – with lived experience of energy access challenges and interest in a career in clean energy – have participated. The participating student teams manage their projects end-to-end and take all key decisions – leading on situation analysis, solution design and prototype implementation.

In a recent independent evaluation students and educators consistently highlighted the Challenge as a transformative learning experience. It was found to deepen technical capability, strengthen professional and leadership skills and foster a mindset of innovation and social responsibility, exposing students and educators to real-life clean energy challenges rarely covered in academic curricula.

This has resulted in prototypes being tested in rural communities; start-ups emerging from student teams; alumni going on to work in the clean energy sector; and universities strengthening clean energy education.

Notable examples include a team from Gulu University advancing a solar UV-C water treatment system serving 2,500 schoolchildren in rural Uganda and a team from Kalasalingam Academy trialling a smart irrigation system with guava farmers in India.

The full evaluation report is not yet published and we will share the full report with the Committee in the coming months, once final.

Through our experience delivering the LEIA programme, we have seen positive outcomes from UK ICF funding initiatives with regards to the ability of communities in low- and lower-middle- income economies to respond to climate change.

For example, the Efficiency for Access Research and Development Fund has supported Simusolar to develop and deploy smart, solar-powered irrigation solutions for rural smallholder farmers in Tanzania and Uganda. These technologies not only help to cut greenhouse emissions by reducing reliance on fossil fuel alternatives but also build the resilience of smallholder farmers to climate change who rely solely on rain for irrigation. Simusolar’s Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGo) financing model has unlocked access to irrigation for farmers who could not afford high upfront costs, resulting in higher agricultural yields and incomes.

Based on our experience, UK ICF could be made more effective for communities facing affordability barriers. Affordability remains one of the biggest barriers to the uptake of solar-powered appliances or energy systems in low- and lower-middle- income economies. Bringing down upfront costs for end-users through innovative financing mechanisms will be crucial to address this issue. Pay As You Go models have enabled energy access, with 3.5 million solar energy kits sold by GOGLA affiliates in 2024 alone. Efficiency for Access’ The Road to Zero Interest report explores how concessional consumer financing could contribute towards overcoming the affordability gap.

Another emerging financing model is Energy as a Service (EaaS), which allows customers to receive access to clean energy products without the ownership requirements, while operators are responsible for maintenance and repair. UK ICF could play a key role in supporting the testing of innovative end-user financing in low- and lower-middle income economies, paving the way for the scale up of proven models. Under the LEIA programme we have undertaken an evaluation of EaaS, which we will share with the Committee when its published next month.

Under the Low Energy Inclusive Appliances (LEIA) programme, Energy Saving Trust leads the Ayrton Sustainable Cooling Challenge, on behalf of DESNZ, DSIT and FCDO who provide strategic direction. The Challenge aims to ensure that, in a warming world, the growing need and demand for cooling in developing countries is met by supporting the development of sustainable and affordable technologies, business models and financing mechanisms.

In this role, we convene the Ayrton Sustainable Cooling Challenge Steering Group. This is the advisory and coordination body which brings together representatives from each of the contributing UK Government departments, programme implementers within the Challenge portfolio and key external stakeholders, such as Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll) and the United Nations Environment Programme’s Cool Coalition. The purpose of the Steering Group is to oversee and review the delivery of the challenge plan, identify opportunities for cross-programme collaboration and track activity for monitoring, reporting and learning purposes.

The Ayrton Fund has provided a helpful framework for increasing the visibility and coordination of ICF programmes across UK Government departments. We see potential to build on this progress to further enhance coordination and better integrate efforts across UK Government departmentsto maximising the overall effectiveness and value for money of ICF funded interventions.

The challenge has made positive progress, bringing UK Government funded cooling-related work together, leading to an enhanced ecosystem understanding, sharing of lessons learnt and collaborative activities. An example of a collaborative activity facilitated by the challenge is that of LEIA/Energy Saving Trust and SEforAll working together with the UNEP Cool Coalition to, for the first time, fully integrate access to cooling in the 2025 Global Cooling Watch Report (GWC).  The GWC is a high-profile and influential publication that informs the commitments of the 72 signatory countries of the Global Cooling Pledge.

To build on the progress achieved to date and fully realise the potential of UK ICF we recommend solidifying the framework to enable a higher level of coordination and more active collaboration across UK Government departments.

We welcome the inclusion of adaptation measures to mitigate risks to health and wellbeing resulting from over-heating and flooding in homes and buildings.

As Northern Ireland’s climate continues to change and rising temperatures increase the risk of overheating and flooding in homes, it will be increasingly important for social housing standards to consider appropriate adaptation measures where necessary so that homes are properly future-proofed.

In the social housing context, these measures will have an important role to play in safeguarding tenants’ health, comfort and wellbeing – particularly for households more likely to be vulnerable to extreme heat.

Cooling measures should form a part of the clean heat transition in social housing. Ensuring that homes can remain comfortable during periods of higher temperatures will also help tenants to avoid unnecessary increases in energy use, emissions and household costs

Overheating can pose health risks including dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. This has been recognised under the Northern Ireland Programme for Government (2024-2027) launched in March 2025, which highlighted that “we have begun to see the very real impact of climate change locally, through extreme heat”.

The Review of energy efficiency requirements and related areas of Building Regulations proposes to follow ‘The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) TM59’ modelled approach or Scotland’s simplified approach to mitigating against the effects of overheating, given similar climatic conditions. Consideration should be given to this when setting requirements to prevent or mitigate against overheating within the Decent Homes Standard.

aWe also note that policy should prioritise passive cooling measures such as effective shading and natural ventilation. These can often reduce or eliminate the need for mechanical cooling (such as air conditioning), helping households stay comfortable without driving up energy demand or costs.

However, without clear and accessible advice, there is a risk that households will default to energy-intensive solutions like standalone air conditioning units and fragmented inefficient solutions.

For some households, the ability to cool as well as heat their home may accelerate and encourage adoption of heat pump technology, especially in homes where overheating risk is already a concern.

We also note that community-based cooling measures – such as establishing community cool rooms during extreme heat events can offer safe, accessible spaces for residents who are unable to keep their homes adequately cool. These facilities can provide safe, accessible environments for vulnerable groups, reduce health risks during heat waves, and help avoid widespread reliance on individual energy-intensive cooling solutions.

At the same time wider estate/area-level interventions, including planting trees and creating green spaces can provide shade and reduce urban temperatures. Anti-heating measures could also include mandating solar canopies over car parks – a proposal currently under consideration by the UK Government – which will not only generate renewable electricity but also provide shade for vehicles, helping to keep them cooler. Such a requirement has already been introduced in France.

The Decent Homes Standard could usefully provide guidance to social housing providers on the range of cooling strategies available.

We would signpost the committee to a recently published report from GOGLA on Blended Finance for Off-Grid Solar and initiatives such as Acumen’s Hardest to Reach fund.