Where Finance Meets Energy Justice

If I ask myself, what would come to my mind about the global energy transition? It is always a large-scale renewable infrastructure or a national decarbonization target. Yet this project has opened my eyes and made me think about elements I used to always miss. How about the poor countries? How do the rural and underserved communities get access to clean energy? Who wants to build the infrastructure? What incentivizes the project developer to invest there? As I started thinking about one question, more kept popping up.

In this practicum project, my team and I are working with a US-based nonprofit organization focused on developing innovative climate finance solutions to enhance clean energy access in fragile and energy-poor regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa. This project aims to attract renewable energy investment in those areas, as renewable energy can generate socio-economic benefits and decrease the negative externalities of fossil fuels. What fascinates me the most is its innovative strategy: using renewable energy certificates with an additional impact label to capture the benefits it brings to fragile regions. This special renewable energy certificate will serve as an incentive to both the stakeholder – project developer and the corporate buyer. Corporate buyers can use it to decarbonize their operations and maximize the social impact of their global clean energy procurement strategies, while the revenue is then used to finance the clean energy project. My team will assess the value proposition for this renewable energy certificate, including the gains for the project developer compared to other incentives like carbon offsets, and quantify the benefits to the potential buyer. 

Throwing back, at the end of my first semester, I felt confident in my understanding of greenhouse gas accounting and carbon markets. However, this project has shown me that knowing the frameworks is very different from applying them to a real-world case. Moreover, coming from a technical background in engineering and heavy industry, I think about sustainability through material efficiency, process optimization, and emissions reduction at scale. Yet this practicum has challenged me to approach sustainability from a different point, especially the finance system, which is often shaped by policy signals and investor confidence. Understanding this dynamic has broadened my perspective on what it truly means to enable sustainable systems.

Through this experience, I hope our work can meaningfully contribute to expanding clean energy investment in underserved markets. Personally, I also hope to sharpen my sense, critical thinking, and problem-solving in the sustainability realm by adjusting the way I learn here, as I realized that in-class courses alone are not enough to transform me into problem solvers if I don’t reflect and constantly ask about related problems out there. My client has inspired me through the idea of this project, and I hope I can also find innovative solutions later, especially in translating climate ambition into investable structures. As countries pursue net-zero commitments, I’ve learnt that the success of the energy transition will depend not only on technological readiness but also on the financial frameworks that enable scalable implementation. I am ready to move forward with this project and embrace the uncertainty with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to learn.