A London Climate Action Week Lunch & Learn

Ashden Climate Solutions in partnership with Intellecap, CLASP and Energy Saving Trust

Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE) technologies, including solar-powered cold storage, milk chilling, irrigation and agro-processing, are one of the most important opportunities in rural economic development and climate resilience.

Across East Africa, a growing pipeline of commercially minded clean energy enterprises are demonstrating strong demand for productive use solutions that can increase incomes, reduce post-harvest losses, lower energy costs and strengthen rural economies.

Yet they still struggle to afford larger productive use technologies because financing options remain limited.

For many farmers, cooperatives, schools and rural businesses, the challenge is no longer whether these technologies work, but whether they can afford them. Limited access to finance continues to slow adoption and prevent these solutions from reaching scale

This session will convene investors, lenders, guarantee providers, development partners and SME support organisations to explore practical approaches to unlocking scalable and affordable asset finance for the PURE sector.

Rather than focusing on why finance is needed, the discussion will centre on how financing can be structured in practice, including approaches to aggregation, leasing, guarantees, blended finance and local currency lending.

Why attend?

This will be a practical, solutions-focused discussion grounded in the experience of enterprises already operating in the market across productive use of energy, cold chain, energy storage and clean cooking. The session offers an opportunity to:

• Explore emerging financing models for higher-value productive use assets
• Engage directly with enterprises and ecosystem actors working to unlock deployment at scale
• Better understand where current financing gaps and transaction barriers sit
• Identify opportunities for catalytic capital, guarantees and blended finance structures
• Connect with peers across the clean energy finance ecosystem during London Climate Action Week

Key themes for discussion

• Asset finance models for higher-value PURE technologies
• Leasing and pay-as-you-grow approaches
• Aggregation and clustering models
• Role of guarantees and first-loss capital
• Local currency lending challenges
• Incentives and constraints facing local financial institutions
• Supporting lenders and borrowers through technical assistance
• Blended finance structures combining grants, concessional capital and guarantees

Who should attend?

• Impact investors
• Asset finance providers
• Local and international lenders
• Guarantee providers
• Foundations and catalytic capital providers
• Development finance institutions
• Accelerators and incubators
• Enterprise support organisations
• Climate and energy ecosystem actors

This will be an interactive working session designed to surface practical financing pathways, collaboration opportunities, and ecosystem gaps.