Africa's green economy: unlocking sustainable investment for the future

Todd Micklethwaite, Executive Head of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at Sanlam Alternative Investments, and Teboho Makhabane, Head of ESG and Impact at Sanlam Investments, highlight the role of innovative financing in driving transformation.

The climate crisis, combined with the increasing demand for sustainable infrastructure and clean energy, has created an unprecedented moment for investment. As Carl Roothman, CEO of Sanlam Investment Group, said, “Access to global capital and enthusiasm to invest in Africa has never been higher, and we are at a key moment in time that may not return in the next 150 years.”

Building on this momentum, Sanlam Investments, a leader in sustainable investing, recently facilitated Africa’s Green Economy Summit (AGES) 2025, which connected global capital with Africa’s most transformative green economy projects. In 2024, an investment pipeline of US$1.4 billion was pitched by over 30 green projects. In 2025, the investment pipeline exceeds US$7 billion to support solutions to Africa’s most pressing challenges, including clean energy, resilient infrastructure, and climate change, all of which offer compelling investment returns.

Amid these opportunities, innovative financing solutions have emerged to help tackle the continent’s environmental and financial challenges. Todd Micklethwaite, Executive Head of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at Sanlam Alternative Investments, led an AGES workshop exploring the growing role of financial instruments in addressing Africa’s biodiversity crisis. Highlighting the urgent need to protect Africa’s ecosystems, Micklethwaite referenced Ecuador’s landmark debt-for-climate transaction in the Galápagos, the largest debt-for-climate deal globally to date, as a creative mechanism through which a country's debt can be restructured or reduced in exchange for funding domestic environmental conservation efforts.

Facilitated by Oceans Finance Company, a pioneering business financed by Climate Fund Managers (co-owned by Sanlam InfraWorks and FMO, the Dutch Development Bank), this deal is a powerful example of how nature and finance could work together to support Africa’s future.

“The deal stands as a leading example of what is possible when financial solutions are built around the impact we want to unlock. From our oceans and landscapes to the biodiversity and people who rely on them, we need to seek smart alternative financing to save what matters most,” Micklethwaite said. He emphasised the urgency of the opportunity that faces the investment community, the need to make a real impact on the ground, and the imperative to reframe the narrative around natural capital as an asset, not a liability.

Teboho Makhabane, Head of ESG and Impact at Sanlam Investments, emphasised the need for alternative financing mechanisms that address deep-rooted structural barriers to inclusive economic participation across Africa.

“There is an urgent need to rethink how we finance small businesses, particularly those led by women,” she said. “Most women entrepreneurs operate as micro-entrepreneurs or in the informal economy and often fall outside the traditional funding criteria. If we are serious about gender equity, we must design financing tools that are intentionally inclusive and sensitive to the lived realities of women-led businesses.”

Makhabane added that innovative mechanisms – such as catalytic capital, results-based financing, and enabling access to carbon markets – can help close the gender financing gap and ensure capital reaches underrepresented entrepreneurs.

These are just some of the ways that the private sector can lead in driving Africa’s green economy. The call for innovation, inclusivity, and sustainable financing has never been more urgent. The opportunity to harness global capital for transformative impact is within reach, but it requires decisive action. The moment to invest in Africa’s green future is now, and the institutional investment community must rise to the challenge.

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