Blended Finance for the Energy Transition (BFET)

USAID and the Department of State, in collaboration with the Office of the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC), is launching the Blended Finance for the Energy Transition (BFET) program. With catalytic co-funding from the U.S. government and other partners, the goal of BFET is to mobilize $1 billion or more of capital to accelerate emerging markets’ energy transition efforts and limit global average temperature rise to 1.5°C. While private capital is increasingly directed at the energy transition in emerging markets, it is not yet at the speed and scale needed to address the global climate crisis. In response, BFET is seeking to unlock new and deep pockets of institutional capital that have typically been too risk averse to deploy capital into the energy transition in target investment countries (India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Vietnam) and other emerging markets, with the intention of accelerating the deployment of equitable, affordable, and reliable clean energy.

Private sector fund managers or other capital deployers are encouraged to submit concept proposals for blended finance structures that deploy catalytic funding into a portfolio of emerging market-based companies and/or real assets that advance the energy transition in this decade.

The BFET program is being implemented under USAID’s Climate Finance for Development Accelerator (CFDA), a flagship USAID initiative designed to mobilize billions in public and private climate investments to fund a range of climate change mitigation and adaptation activities focused on scaling up the transition to an equitable and resilient net-zero economy.

To bid on the opportunity, BFET has released a competitive two-stage application process with the first stage being a Request for Concept Proposals (RFCP). Based on the quality of concept proposals, select applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal for a potential grant or subcontract. Concept proposals are due by 11:59 pm EDT on Wednesday, May 24th, 2023. In order to receive the full RFCP, interested investment partners should fill out a brief partnership intake form to join the Climate Finance Investment Network (CFIN) or reach out to CFDA at [email protected]. There is no cost to join the CFIN, and membership does not involve any commitment/obligation.

Managed by CFDA, the CFIN brings together climate finance stakeholders across a diverse set of sectors and emerging and frontier markets to partner with USAID. There is no cost to join the network. The objective of the network is to crowd in private sector climate financing through learning, partnership facilitation, and catalytic grants. If you are not already a member of CFIN and would like to bid on the RFCP, please click here to complete our brief partnership intake form or email us at [email protected] for more information.

Below is the bidding process:
  1. The original RFCP was issued on Thursday, April 13, 2023 to registered members of the CFIN. An amended RFCP and accompanying Amendment No. 1 was released on Thursday, May 4, 2023 to members of the CFIN. Access the amended RFCP here and Amendment No. 1 here.
  2. CFDA held a virtual bidders conference on Thursday, April 20, 2023. This event covered questions about the RFCP and guidance on how to submit a concept proposal. Access the recording here and the slide deck here.
  3. The written question period closed on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. Access written responses to questions here.
  4. Bidders should submit their full proposal packages in the CFDA Proposal Portal for BFET by no later than 11:59pm EDT, on Wednesday, May 24, 2023: https://airtable.com/shrBLUGR8Xx6pU002