The UK government is providing £100 million of investment to Africa in order to progress renewable energy projects. At the same time, the funding will ensure that 2.4 million people can access electricity for the first time.

The projects will be focused around small-scale wind, solar, geothermal and hydro developments designed to maximise the region's renewable energy potential and to move away from damaging fossil fuels.

The funding will be delivered via the Renewable Energy Performance Platform and help to fund 40 new projects across sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years. The expected reduction in carbon emissions will equate to 800,000 cars being taken off the roads or three million tonnes of damaging greenhouse gases over the projects' operational lifetime.

It's expected that the new grant funding will help to unlock an additional £156 million worth of private financing into Africa's renewable energy sector by 2023.

Claire Perry, the Minister for Energy and Clean Growth, said that the UK was a global leader in slashing carbon emissions whilst growing the British economy and demonstrating clean energy leadership overseas.

She added that the funding would also create thousands of skilled and sustainable jobs in Africa's growing green sector. The government previously committed to providing £48 million in the REPP programme, which funds renewable projects across a number of developing countries.

According to the government's figures, its funding has so far helped 17 million people to get easier access to cleaner energy sources as well as directly install 590 MW of clean energy capacity. At the same time, it has helped 47 million people to deal with the outcomes of climate change. 

The government will also provide an extra £45 million to the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions fund, which helps to reduce sector-based carbon emissions.