Building electrified railways lays the basis for low carbon transport and in a country like Ethiopia, also responds to the country policy to expand domestic income without increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Without railways, the emissions from the transport sector will increase from 5 million tons of CO2 in 2010 to 41 million tons of CO2 in 2030. The development of the railway and supported projects will result in significant GHG emissions reductions of 9 million tons CO2/year by 2030 and support Ethiopia’s ambition for a carbon neutral economy by 2025.

The objective of this project is to support the construction of over 5,000 km of railway by securing international climate finance. The trains will make use of domestic hydropower, which is not only a clean and reliable source of energy that does not directly emit greenhouse gases, but will also ensure that the growth of Ethiopia’s economy will be independent of imported fuels. Construction of the first railway line connecting Addis Ababa with Djibouti Port is expected to be commissioned in 2015.

Since 2013, Climate Focus has been working as part of an advisory team embedded in ERC for hands-on capacity building. The initial phases of the project included the preparation of necessary documentation (e.g. a climate finance investment plan and a monitoring, reporting and verification system) and the implementation of training courses.