Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the funding for the Renewable Energy and Adaptation Climate Technologies (Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund).

The Renewable Energy and Adaptation to Climate Technologies (REACT) programme's aim was to incentivise the private sector to invest in low-cost clean energy and adaptation technologies to raise incomes and help climate adaptation. Its effectiveness was assessed in its Project Completion Report, which scored the programme an 'A', denoting that it had achieved its expected aims. It supported a number of early-stage companies now attracting commercial investment, helped attract $150 million of matching investments, and paved the way for mini-grids being accepted as part of the rural energy mix in Tanzania.