The partnership is a significant step toward fulfilling LeapFrog’s pledge, announced by Dr Kuper at Windsor Castle at a recent forum with King Charles III, to deploy $500m to scale green tools and technologies to improve lives traditional stages of development and avoiding carbon-intensive consumption.

Currently, consumers in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa contribute 25% of global emissions—a figure set to rise to as much as 73% by 2030 without smart development solutions that benefit the environment. Directing capital to development projects with climate benefits in these markets is essential to curbing this trajectory while fostering long-term and sustainable economic growth.

The partnership builds on strong momentum in LeapFrog’s Climate Investment Strategy, which recently invested in India’s largest battery swapping network, Battery Smart, lowering the upfront cost of electric vehicles by up to 40%.

Last year, LeapFrog doubled its climate team and added global leaders Mike Berners-Lee, professor and pioneer in carbon footprinting and sustainable systems, and Damilola Ogunbiyi, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, to its advisory board. With industry partners, LeapFrog also published major reports mapping the development opportunities with climate benefits in emerging markets, including and in electric mobility in Asia, with a view to catalysing investment in high-impact sectors.

“The world’s four billion consumers in emerging markets constitute half of the global population – they have every right to advance but, without green tools and technologies, their total emissions will blow through the world’s carbon budget. This is also where the greatest opportunities lie — investing to support a generational transition for the majority of global consumers and producers. We are grateful to have the support of our longstanding partners EIB, IFC and Temasek in achieving this mission,” said Dr Andy Kuper, CEO and Founder of LeapFrog Investments.

“Today’s announcement is an example of public-private partnership at its best, and a strong statement on Europe’s climate leadership. At the EIB, we are staying the course and consolidating our role as The Climate Bank,” said Nadia Calviño, EIB Group President.