REEEP develops and implements programmes which use a combination of financial instruments, capacity building, facilitation of stakeholder cooperation and technical assistance to encourage private sector investment in clean energy markets, primarily in low- and middle income countries. It designed and implemented the Beyond the Grid Fund for Zambia,[5] funded by Sweden, which won the Ashden Award in 2019[6] and delivered energy service subscriptions to over 1 million Zambians.[7] The programme has been expanded into the Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa[7] which as of 2024 aims to reach over 8.6 million people across Burkina Faso, DRC, Liberia, Uganda and Zambia.[8]
In 2002, accelerating the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies was one of the priorities of a large group of countries at the WSSD.[2] Margaret Beckett, then UK Minister for the Environment announced the initiative to form REEEP at the summit's closing session. It grew from an agreement with other committed governments, businesses and NGOs to deliver WSSD commitments others, in particular to take forward the key recommendations of the G8 Renewable Energy Task Force.[2]
From January 2003 until May 2004, the REEEP was housed within the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) where it continued following the UN Type II Partnership[9] process of stakeholder consultation. In June 2004, REEEP obtained formal, legal non-profit status as an international NGO and has since been located at the UN complex in Vienna, Austria. In 2016, REEEP was granted status as a Quasi-International Organisation in Austria,[10] along with four other organisations.
In the first phase of its existence (2002-2014) REEEP acted largely as a re-granting institution, funding nearly 200 projects. The majority have targeted emerging markets such as India, China, South Africa and Brazil.
These REEEP projects attempted to address two key barriers to clean energy development, and gather and aggregate information on them:
Policy and regulation: promoting clear government policies and favourable, transparent and stable regulatory frameworks that will encourage long-term investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency
Innovative finance and business models: supporting new forms of financing, risk mitigation and business models to make small-sized renewable and energy efficient projects bankable.
Since 2014, REEEP has focused its work toward the targeted "de-risking" of specific markets and sectors, such as solar-powered irrigation systems in East Africa, solar-powered dairy cooling in Bangladesh, or innovative decentralized mini-grid models in Tanzania.
Regionally, REEEP has shifted concentration to low- and middle-income countries, although it continues to work in India and South Africa, which are generally considered to be emerging markets:
East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
Southern Africa: South Africa, Zambia, Botswana
Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Myanmar
South Asia: India, Bangladesh, Nepal
REEEP's completed projects include:
Beyond the Grid Fund for Zambia - a major fund to stimulate markets for off-grid electrification solutions in Zambia[7]
Powering Agrifood Value Chains - a project to develop evidence-based intervention guidance for energy utilisation in the food-producing agricultural sector.[12]
Climate Change, Clean Energy and Urban Water Works in Southern Africa - a joint REEEP-UNIDO project to accelerate market-based solutions for energy-related investment to improve municipal water works in Southern Africa.[13]
SWITCH Africa Green - a project to support African countries in their transition to an Inclusive Green Economy and promoting sustainable consumption and production (SCP) practices and patterns.[14]
Climate Knowledge Brokers Group - a community of practice that furthers improvements and efficiency gains in the global climate knowledge system.[15]
reegle was developed by REEEP in collaboration with REN21,[15] and was funded by the governments of Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom.[16] reegle was an advocate of the Linked Open Data movement, which seeks to make public data available on the web in open formats that are machine-readable.[17]
As of 2023, REEEP has 385 partners, 45 of which are governments, including all the G7 countries and key government agencies from India and China, other emerging markets and the developing world. Partners also include a range of businesses, NGOs and civil society organisations.[18]
