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Press release: Proparco invested €2.3 billion throughout the world in 2022, including 45% in Africa

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With 214 projects confirmed in 2022 for an amount of €2.3 billion, Proparco’s activity broke the €2 billion barrier for the fourth year in a row. The year 2022 closed out Proparco’s 2020-2022 strategic cycle and featured a strengthening of the sustainable development rating process as part of the transition to its Strategy 2023-2027: “Acting together for greater impact”. This rating enhances the project selection process and includes a criterion of alignment with the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Proparco is working in 115 countries around the world to strengthen the contribution of the private sector to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Today, Proparco is issuing its Impact Report and key figures for 2022. 



In 2022, Proparco committed a total of €2.3 billion, of which:

  • €1.024 billion was invested in Africa, i.e., 45% of all Proparco commitments
  • €902 million went into projects with climate co-benefits
  • €148 million was invested in fragile countries and LDCs 

To get a more detailed analysis of the contribution of its projects to SDGs in 2022, Proparco analysed 59 projects signed during the year (representing total investment of €1.46 billion) in order to determine the expected impacts of the financing, five years after the signature. Monitoring performed in 2022, of projects signed between 2016 and 2020, also makes it possible to compare the estimated impacts with those observed during project deployment.



Africa accounts for almost half (45%) of Proparco’s total financing in 2022.



By investing over €1 billion (€1,024 million) on the African continent, Proparco supports private actors in all sectors in order to contribute to a more sustainable and resilient development.

For example, the ARAF Fund uses the AFD Group’s FISEA facility to help innovative African start-ups to combat climate change and improve food security throughout the Continent. The Fund helps improving the living conditions and climate resilience of smallholder farmers in East and West Africa. 

The Choose Africa initiative – launched by AFD Group in 2019 – also rounds out Proparco's actions in Africa. It helped to provide €3.5 billion worth of financing to African entrepreneurs and MSMEs over the period 2018-2022, benefiting 40,000 companies and several hundred thousand micro-businesses. This initiative will provide support for 2 million direct and indirect jobs over 5 years. 



Helping the private sector to deal with climate change



By financing more than €900 million worth of projects with climate co-benefits in 2022, Proparco has put 40% of its commtiments into the fight against climate change. 

As Proparco's 2022 Impact Report shows, thanks to the clients and projects financed in 2022: 

-    4.6 million tons of CO² equivalent will be avoided each year, 

-    2,162,000 people will benefit from (new or improved) access to renewable energy. 



Protecting biodiversity, the transition to a low-carbon pathway and the fight against social and gender inequalities are now more than ever at the heart of Proparco's actions. They are all factored into Proparco's sustainable development rating, which has been applied to all new debt and equity financing operations since October 2022.



Helping to reduce social and gender inequalities



The clients and projects financed in 2022 will support some 1.345 million jobs within 5 years, including 38,000 jobs created directly at our clients. Another 364,000 people will benefit from micro loans thanks to the commitments we made in 2022. Investing in the microfinance sector is another way for Proparco to reduce gender inequalities. For example, in 2022, Proparco supported Annapurna, an Indian-based microfinance institution that helps businesses run by women to prosper in rural areas. 



Proparco signed up to the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP) this year at the same time as AFD and Expertise France. WEPs seek to promote gender equality and female empowerment in the workplace. In 2022, Proparco also financed 18 projects qualifying for the 2X Challenge, representing €203 million worth of investment. 



As Françoise Lombard, Chief Executive Officer of Proparco explains, “To enable us to achieve the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement and the UN SDGs in 2030, Proparco has placed socio-economic development that is low carbon and resilient to the effects of climate change at the very heart of its strategy. At every stage of our projects, this forces us to mobilize our resources and expertise even more efficiently to generate more positive impacts for our clients. This ambition is our raison d'être – building the future by supporting private sector initiatives for a more just and sustainable world.”

Click here to get Proparco’s key figures for 2022

https://www.proparco.fr/en/ressources/proparco-key-figures-2022

Click here to discover Proparco's 2022 Impact Report https://www.proparco.fr/en/ressources/impact-report-2022