Our mission was to pave the way for a global scale-up of investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
SEFI is the UNEP Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative - a platform providing financiers with the tools, support, and global network needed to conceive and manage investments in the complex and rapidly changing marketplace for clean energy technologies.
SEFI's goal was to foster investment in sustainable energy projects by providing up-to-date investor information, facilitating deal origination, developing partnerships, and creating the momentum needed to shift sustainable energy from the margins of energy supply to the mainstream.
July 2011
Global investment in renewable energy jumped 32% in 2010, to a record $211 billion. Click on the image to access the report.
July 2010
UNEP SEFI and Bloomberg New Energy Finance are pleased to release this year's Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2010 Report. The report provides an overview of capital flows and an analysis of the trends in sustainable energy investment activity.
March 2010
This report, titled "Publicly Backed Guarantees as Policy Instruments to Promote Clean Energy", was commissioned by the 
SEF Alliance as part of its financing mechanisms study series. It assesses the advantages and disadvantages of using different types of publicly backed guarantee structures at the various stages of clean energy product and technology innovation and deployment, examining the experience of public financing agencies and relevant lessons learned. The main intended audiences are programme designers and implementers, as well as programme strategists and policymakers.
A GUIDE FOR POLICYMAKERS
January 2010
This guide provides an outline of how financing renewable energy works, with a particular focus on more mature end of the market i.e. the proven technologies that can be deployed now and at scale. It aims to show how policy looks and where it fits in from a financing perspective; as well as the range of other factors that need taken into account in doing an actual project or deal.
October 2009
At present, the private sector is not motivated to undertake the level of investment needed by the developing world. To generate private sector interest, the expected returns on low-carbon investments will need to match the risks. This is not the case on a sufficiently widespread basis to deliver the scale of investment required. However, in themselves, they are unlikely to be sufficient to drive investment at the level and speed required.
July 2009
The purpose of this study is to provide an analysis of the connection between government clean energy spending and various measures of economic health. The work was commission by the SEF Alliance in response to the current global economic downturn in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of why and how countercyclical investment in sustainable energy by the public sector can be a sound economic response to recession.
December 2008
This report provides an overview of financial mechanisms being used by the public sector to help scale up the climate mitigation markets, with a particular focus on the clean energy sector.
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