AFC Capital Partners (ACP), the asset management subsidiary of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), has launched the Infrastructure Climate-Resilient Fund Nigeria (ICRF Nigeria) as a dedicated platform to mobilise domestic institutional capital for investment in climate-resilient infrastructure projects across Nigeria and the wider African continent.
ICRF Nigeria forms part of ACP’s $750 million (R12 billion) Infrastructure Climate-Resilient Fund (ICRF), a pioneering vehicle designed to strengthen the resilience of Africa’s infrastructure by embedding climate considerations throughout the asset lifecycle—from planning and design to construction and operation.
AFC’s President and CEO Amaila Zubairu said in a statement: “Africa is not short of capital. The continent holds more than $4 trillion in domestic resources, including significant pools of long-term capital in pensions, insurance and sovereign wealth funds. Yet too much of this wealth remains invested in low-risk, short-term instruments rather than being channelled into productive sectors such as infrastructure, industry and innovation."
The Fund addresses a critical challenge - ensuring that infrastructure underpinning Africa’s growth can withstand increasingly severe and unpredictable climate impacts. ACP expects to mobilise up to $3.7 billion in total financing and build a portfolio of 10 to 12 infrastructure projects across Africa.
ICRF has attracted participation from leading global and African institutional investors, including a $253m first-loss commitment from the Green Climate Fund (GCF)—its largest equity investment in Africa to date—alongside the European Investment Bank (EIB), Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), and several African pension funds.
Registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a closed-end fund, ICRF Nigeria is designed to channel capital from pension fund administrators (PFAs), insurers, asset managers and other Nigerian institutional investors towards a diversified portfolio of commercially viable high-impact infrastructure opportunities.
“The opportunity before us is to create investment vehicles that connect Africa’s long-term savings with its long-term development needs. ICRF Nigeria is an important step in that direction, enabling Nigerian institutional capital to participate in the infrastructure that will drive more resilient and sustainable growth across Nigeria and the continent,” Zubairu said.
ACP CEO Ayaan Adam said: “ICRF Nigeria gives Nigerian institutional investors a dedicated route into high-quality, climate-resilient infrastructure investments across Nigeria and Africa. By combining institutional capital with AFC’s infrastructure expertise and the catalytic power of blended finance, we can address both the financing needs of critical infrastructure and the growing risks posed by climate change.
“Importantly, this creates an avenue for Nigeria’s long-term savings to contribute to infrastructure development while giving investors access to a diversified portfolio of opportunities across the continent.”
ICRF combines concessional and commercial capital to overcome barriers that have historically constrained investment in climate adaptation across Africa. Through blended finance and targeted de-risking mechanisms, the Fund integrates climate resilience into infrastructure from the outset, helping to unlock private capital for investment in projects that might otherwise be difficult to finance.
The Fund’s target sectors are critical to Africa’s economic transformation, including renewable energy, transport and logistics, digital infrastructure and industrial development. Its investment approach considers both physical and transition climate risks, including exposure to extreme weather, emissions pathways and climate governance. Each investment undergoes climate risk screening and assessment to embed resilience throughout the infrastructure lifecycle.
THE NATIONAL
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