Allied Climate Partners Announces Ahmed Saeed as Chief Executive Officer

NEW YORK, June 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Climate Partners (ACP), a newly-established philanthropic investment organization focused on climate, today announced the appointment of Ahmed Saeed as Chief Executive Officer. ACP's mission is to increase the number of bankable, climate-related projects and businesses in emerging economies to create significant environmental, economic, and social impact. Mr. Saeed will join ACP in September 2023. Until then, he will continue as the Asian Development Bank's (ADB's) Vice President for East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.

The path to net zero will require a significant increase in climate investments across emerging economies. The IEA estimates that achieving net zero in emerging economies will require $1 trillion of total annual investment by 2030 – approximately seven times current levels. Increasing the number of scalable, commercially viable early-stage project development and investment platforms is essential to achieving this goal.  The ACP model is designed to enable key, early-stage innovations with significant potential for impact on climate and communities, which the public and private sectors then scale.

ACP will select regional investment managers in emerging economies and support them with the early-stage development capital and expertise necessary to increase the number of climate-related projects and asset-oriented businesses. This model is designed to address a critical financing gap at the early, risk-oriented stages of the development process. Without this support, many projects and businesses struggle to attract the capital necessary to achieve their climate-related goals.

"It is critical that we unlock early-stage financing at scale in emerging economies to increase the number of bankable, climate-related projects. This challenge demands unique leadership," said Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, Co-Chair of GFANZ, and former Governor of the Bank of England. "I'm excited about the ACP model and what the organization can accomplish with Ahmed as CEO."

ACP and its partners are initially aggregating an $825 million investment platform, catalyzed by $235 million in philanthropically-backed junior capital. ACP will fund the junior equity of four initial investment managers in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Caribbean & Central America, and India. Senior equity in this platform will be provided by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), and private sector actors. If successful, ACP anticipates mobilizing $10 billion for the construction of bankable, climate-related projects through this platform, generating a 40x capital mobilization multiplier on its junior, risk-oriented philanthropic capital, and a 12x multiplier on the aggregate investment platform. By proving this model, ACP aims to induce commercially-oriented public and private sector investors to provide capital where they likely would not otherwise.

"There simply aren't enough bankable, climate related projects and businesses in emerging economies," said Ahmed Saeed, incoming CEO of Allied Climate Partners. "ACP takes a fresh approach to this long-standing challenge, using philanthropic first-loss equity to crowd public and private capital into carefully selected, high quality investment managers that will grow the pipeline of projects. I am excited to lead ACP and look forward to partnering with other organizations to increase the project pipeline."

Mr. Saeed brings extensive, relevant experience to Allied Climate Partners. At ADB, Mr. Saeed and his colleagues pioneered new ways to address development and climate challenges, including the Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM), a blended finance platform for accelerated decommissioning of legacy coal-fired power in Southeast Asia; the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IF-CAP), a new vehicle for expanding the lending capacity of development banks; and new partnerships with Bloomberg Philanthropies, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Temasek and others. 

Between 2004 and 2008, Mr. Saeed served in senior roles at the US Treasury, working closely with two Secretaries of the Treasury (John Snow and Hank Paulson). He was a White House Fellow and Senior Advisor to the Secretary and, later, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (Middle East and Africa), with responsibility for US economic diplomacy across 68 countries.

Mr. Saeed subsequently worked for eight years at JPMorgan as Managing Director and Head of Public Sector Group for the Middle East and North Africa, with responsibility for the firm's business covering finance ministries, central banks, and sovereign wealth funds. He previously led technology-related businesses in the UK, US, and Japan, and began his career as a lawyer at White & Case LLP, advising project finance lenders on energy-related projects in emerging economies.

"People in emerging economies, while least responsible for causing the climate crisis, bear the greatest costs," said Mark Gallogly, Chair of Allied Climate Partners and Co-Founder of Three Cairns Group. "Working on this issue requires humility, leadership, and vision. Ahmed's perspectives and experiences span the worlds of finance, government, multilateral institutions, emerging economies, and climate action. We're grateful to have him on board."

Three Cairns Group is incubating Allied Climate Partners. Anchor partners to ACP include Sea Change Foundation International. Three Cairns Group was co-founded by Mark Gallogly, former Expert Senior Advisor to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, and a 35-year career investor, including as Co-Founder of Centerbridge Partners and Head of Global Private Equity at Blackstone. Sea Change Foundation International incubated the Southeast Asia Clean Energy Facility (SEACEF, managed by Clime Capital), an investment vehicle focused on accelerating the low carbon transition in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, which established the initial proof-of-concept for ACP. ACP is also working to replicate and adapt similar, early-stage financing models across its other initial focus regions: Africa, the Caribbean and Central America, and India.

"Expanding the pipeline of bankable climate projects – as Allied Climate Partners is working to do – is essential to rectifying the current unequal flow of climate finance to where it is needed most," said Donald Kaberuka, former president of the African Development Bank. "African countries, like many others across the emerging economies, have enormous potential to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Solutions like ACP and leaders like Ahmed can help unlock the capital necessary to enable the large-scale deployments of clean infrastructure we have long needed."

Allied Climate Partners was designed following deep engagement with over two hundred investors, developers, policymakers, business owners, and civil society leaders across emerging economies, who repeatedly emphasized the need for new and innovative financing mechanisms to support early-stage climate projects, driven by philanthropy. ACP intends, over time, to replicate and apply this approach to other critical bottlenecks impeding the flow of finance to needed aspects of the climate and energy transition.

About Allied Climate Partners:

Allied Climate Partners (ACP) is a philanthropic investment organization with a mission to accelerate the climate transition and improve livelihoods in emerging economies by increasing the flow of capital to bankable, climate-related projects and businesses. ACP selects regional investment managers in emerging economies and supports them with first-loss capital, expertise, and the mandate to address a critical financing gap at the early, risk-oriented stages of the development process for climate-related projects and asset-oriented businesses. Without this support, many projects and businesses struggle to attract the necessary capital to achieve their climate-related goals. By proving this model, ACP aims to induce commercially-oriented public and private sector investors to invest where they likely would not otherwise.

About Three Cairns Group:

Three Cairns Group is a mission-driven investment and philanthropic firm that works to build and support innovative organizations, platforms, and initiatives to accelerate climate action, founded by Mark Gallogly and Lise Strickler. In addition to Allied Climate Partners, Three Cairns Group is also establishing the Global Carbon Market Utility (a partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies) as well as other strategic initiatives at the intersection of climate, finance, and technology.

No parties quoted above have received compensation for providing statements and none are investment advisory clients of ACP. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy any securities or service. This press release contains forward-looking statements which may or may not be realized and are contingent on uncertain events.

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SOURCE Allied Climate Partners