A group of international development partners and philanthropies is preparing to accelerate the energy transition in developing countries. The IKEA Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Bezos Earth Fund formed the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) in 2021 to raise $7.5 billion between 2026 and 2030. As conventional assistance flows, especially from the United States, decline, the alliance, which currently operates in more than 30 countries, is seeking new philanthropic partners. The Jeff Bezos-backed renewables alliance emphasizes how non-governmental models are increasingly stepping in to fill the void left by dwindling climate money as world leaders gather in New York for Climate Week and the U.N. General Assembly.

Expanding Green Energy Access in Emerging Economies

The goal of GEAPP‘s methodology is to lower investment risk while gaining access to funding from multilateral development banks and private lenders. In its initial five-year plan, the group has already raised $7.8 billion by combining concessional finance and philanthropic donations, increasing access to clean electricity, and generating employment in green industries. The goal of the following stage is to scale and duplicate this strategy.

Key focus areas include:

• Renewables-ready power grids: GEAPP intends to construct “Grids of the Future” in developing nations that are both economically viable and technologically sophisticated.
• Battery storage expansion: To stabilize renewable energy, storage solutions are being piloted in more than 20 countries, including India, which has its first utility-scale independent system.
• Cross-sector integration: To ensure that clean power yields broader development benefits, energy projects will progressively support the health, education, and agricultural sectors.
• Global replication: Projects like the digital mapping of 6.5 million utility assets in Jaipur, India, which currently saves $50 million a year, will be expanded to 10 utilities each in Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and India.

The Jeff Bezos-backed renewables alliance aims to establish a global network of utilities that are prepared for renewable energy sources, enabling them to promote sustainable growth in areas where power demand is expected to increase.

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Financing the Transition Amid Shrinking Aid

The challenge is still enormous in scope. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), if the world is to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement, clean energy investment in developing nations outside of China needs to increase sixfold to $1.6 trillion yearly by the early 2030s. However, OECD data shows that a sharp dip in U.S. contributions caused official development aid to fall by 7.1% in 2024, the first decline in six years.

GEAPP is responding by pursuing new financing models:

• Philanthropic leverage: To unlock $7.5 billion through blended financing, the alliance plans to raise at least $500 million in philanthropic capital between 2026 and 2030.
• Private sector partnerships: It is anticipated that cooperation with businesses such as GE Vernova would expand technical solutions.
• Governmental and multilateral cooperation: The World Bank, Denmark, and Britain offer the financial and political support required to grow operations.
• Coalition-building: In developing nations, a planned “Energy and Opportunity Coalition” aims to integrate clean energy across sectors formally.

In addition to eliminating about a billion metric tons of carbon emissions, GEAPP has so far provided new or enhanced energy access to nearly 240 million people. Whether philanthropic-led partnerships can close the widening climate funding gap caused by the withdrawal of government assistance will be determined over the course of the next five years.

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