Global Programme on Sustainability

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The programme supports sustainable economic growth that is both long-lasting and resilient to climate-related stressors. It does this through the integration of natural capital into decision making by governments, the private sector and financial institutions. The inability to value natural capital can undermine long-term growth and critically, the livelihoods of the poorest people dependent on ecosystems for their livelihoods. This programme directly addresses this challenge by (i) investing in data and research on natural capital; (ii) assisting countries to integrate this analysis into government policy making; and (iii) integrating this data and analysis into financial sector decision making.

Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a widespread and lucrative criminal activity causing major global environmental and social harm. The IWT has been estimated to be worth up to £17 billion a year. Nearly 6,000 different species of fauna and flora are impacted, with almost every country in the world playing a role in the illicit trade. The UK government is committed to tackling illegal trade of wildlife products and is a long-standing leader in efforts to eradicate the IWT. Defra manages the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, which is a competitive grants scheme with the objective of tackling IWT and, in doing so, contributing to sustainable development in developing countries. Projects funded under the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund address one, or more, of the following themes: • Developing sustainable livelihoods to benefit people directly affected by IWT, • Strengthening law enforcement, • Ensuring effective legal frameworks, • Reducing demand for IWT products. By 2023 over £51 million has been committed to 157 projects since the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund was established in 2013. This page contains information about Rounds 7 onwards. For information about Rounds 1 to 6, please see the IWTCF website -https://iwt.challengefund.org.uk/

Darwin Initiative

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The Darwin Initiative is the UK’s flagship international challenge fund for biodiversity conversation and poverty reduction, established at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The Darwin Initiative is a grant scheme working on projects that aim to slow, halt, or reverse the rates of biodiversity loss and degradation, with associated reductions in multidimensional poverty. To date, the Darwin Initiative has awarded more than £195m to over 1,280 projects in 159 countries to enhance the capability and capacity of national and local stakeholders to deliver biodiversity conservation and multidimensional poverty reduction outcomes in low and middle-income countries. More information at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/the-darwin-initiative. This page contains information about Rounds 27 onwards. For information about Rounds 1 to 26, please see the Darwin Initiative website -https://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/

Co-DiRECT Nepal: a community-based diet programme for remission of type 2 diabetes and amelioration of non-communicable disease risks

DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

This award aims to evaluate a proven dietary intervention, for remission of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and reduction of chronic non-communicable disease (NCD) risks, culturally adapted for implementation in the context of rapidly-growing peri-urban populations in and around cities in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal.

Floating Instream Tidal and Solar (FITS) Power Plant - Nepal Pilot Project

DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Harvesting hydrokinetic energy from running river water presents a highly attractive addition to the existing renewable energy sectors. Critically, and unlike most other renewables, this technology guarantees a predictable and consistent energy output which can contribute to the baseload power requirements of its energy off-takers. AEL has developed an innovative hybrid technology which couples run-of-river hydrokinetic generation with solar - the Floating Instream Tidal and Solar (FITS) power plant. FITS technology has been specifically optimized for river deployments, and is scalable to enable both energy access and utility scale power generation. This project will deliver the first fully developed FITS pilot, supplying constant renewable power to an off-grid community in rural Nepal. The electricity supplied will be used to provide lighting and cooking facilities to households in the community, and will additionally power water filtration and pumping equipment, providing access to clean water for drinking and water for agricultural industry.

Project GANESHA - Getting power Access to rural-Nepal through thermally cooled battery Energy storage for transport and Home Applications

DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Project GANESHA focusses on development, manufacture and implementation of an innovative battery module solution for powering Nepal rural-based small passenger vehicles and off-grid low-power home energy systems. Solar-power installations will be constructed to pilot our innovation in two seperate rural-Nepal pilot sites with marginal-/zero-power access. Our consortium including three-UK and two-Nepal organisations, was formed to assist solution-development for commercial challenges faced by the Nepal Electric Vehicle Institute (NEVI) in achieving its ambition to provide Nepal-wide zero-carbon public-transport/power access. NEVI were established in the mid-1990s when growing urban-population densities led to exponential-increase in urban-internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle registrations/polluton. NEVI were pioneers in retrofitting Nepal-ICE-rickshaws to EV, and developing battery-solutions to power these vehicles. It rents batteries to marginalised-/low income-communities through its its affordable model, to facilitate their independant-income-generation (60% of its work-force being female). Limitations of Nepal's rural-/urban-location power grid/distribution restrict EV-rollout across the country. NEVI are forced to depot-recharge EV-rickshaws during night-periods when power-demand is low and risk of powercuts are minimised. Limited depot-space and grid-power restrictions limit EV-rickshaws numbers NEVI can provide each location's public-transport market. NEVI wish to access solar-power to charge vehicle battery packs and envision a removable solution simlar to products currently marketed in India and Sub-Saharan Africa to expand its service to rural-communities where solutions are most needed (aligning with its original mission). However, current module-products are recharged at low C-rates and require large capital-investment. To supply a public-transport EV-fleet NEVI would require large module-stocks and high-area solar-arrays. Our projects innovation/case study-sites resolve this dilemma. A new module will be designed, manufactured, and mobilised incorporating PAK-Engineering Ltd's robust-/lightweight-heat exchanger technology. PAK's system facilitates high C-rate charging and design-versatility enabling PAK to adapt/optimise its function to suit multiple environmental-conditions. EPT Ltd will design module-incorporated state-sensor/communications technology so module-function is optimised, and location tracked when in use. Gamma-Meon Ltd will design, adapt and incorporate a specilised payment systems platform that EV-rickshaw operators and users will use to access NEVI services. Our solution will reduce mentioned-capital investment-requirments, and enable rollout to two rural-communities with marginal-/zero-power access in project-timescales. NEVI via partneship with Nepal-famed gender/social-equity pioneer 3 Sisters Trekking Group will construct two rural-solar arrays for charging our-modules, for powering 8-10 EV-vehicles adapted to location-conditions, and provide home-energy-kits for lighting and small-device charging for imroving life-quality in these locations.

RASSCOL Nepal: Retrofit Application of Spectrally Selective Coatings to Overhead Lines

DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

The project aims to demonstrate discontinuous cost savings in upgrading transmission and distribution capacity via the application of capacity-enhancing coatings to overhead lines.

NMB Bank Ltd.

British International Investment plc

NMB Bank is one of Nepal's leading commercial banks, with 201 branches across Nepal. It is licensed as an "A" financial institution by Nepal Rastra Bank and was founded in 1996. It currently serves a range of large and medium-sized business customers.

WorldLink Communications Limited

British International Investment plc

WorldLink is the largest private sector internet service provider in Nepal.

Nepal Water and Energy Development Company

British International Investment plc

BII has committed to providing financing for the construction of a landmark hydro-electric plant in central Nepal, Upper Trishuli-1.

Dolma Impact Fund II

British International Investment plc

Dolma Impact Fund II invests primarily in renewable energy, healthcare and technology in Nepal.

Dolma Impact Fund II

British International Investment plc

Dolma Impact Fund II invests primarily in renewable energy, healthcare and technology in Nepal.

Sanima Bank Ltd.

British International Investment plc

Sanima Bank is an “A” Class Commercial Bank registered in Kathmandu, Nepal and promoted by a diverse and prominent group of Non-Resident Nepalese (NRNs) businessmen, namely Arun Kumar Ojha, Tek Raj Niraula and Jiba Lamichhane, among others. The bank commenced operations in 2004 as a National Level Development Bank with the vision to mobilize resources for national development. The banks director base includes professionals with deep and diverse experience, particularly from banking and hydropower sectors. Tuk Prasad Poudel, the Chairperson of the bank has 3 decades of experience in hydropower and has worked in Nepal, Russia, Norway, Liberia and Afghanistan. Sanima Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through its 105 branches and 28 extension counters across 7 provinces in Nepal. Sanima’s shareholding is split between Promoters (51%) and the General Public (49%). The bank is listed on the Nepal Stock Exchange (XNEP:SANIMA), with a current marketcapitalisation of $251.8m as at 31/1/2024.

WorldLink Communications Limited

British International Investment plc

WorldLink is the largest private sector internet service provider in Nepal.

Dolma Impact Fund II

British International Investment plc

Established in 2014, Dolma Fund Management is a private equity fund manager focused on highly impactful investments in critical sectors in Nepal.

Dolma Impact Fund II invests primarily in renewable energy, healthcare and technology in Nepal.

NMB Bank Limited

British International Investment plc

The loan will allow NMB to lend to key sectors of the Nepalese economy, including infrastructure and agriculture, as well as growing the proportion of loans to MSMEs.

WorldLink Communications Limited

British International Investment plc

WorldLink is the largest private sector internet service provider in Nepal.

NMB Bank Ltd.

British International Investment plc

NMB Bank is one of Nepal's leading commercial banks, with 201 branches across Nepal. It is licensed as an "A" financial institution by Nepal Rastra Bank and was founded in 1996. It currently serves a range of large and medium-sized business customers.

SFC - GCRF QR funding

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Formula GCRF funding to the Scottish Funding Council to support Scottish higher education institutes (HEIs) to carry out ODA-eligible activities in line with their three-year institutional strategies. ODA research grants do not represent the full economic cost of research and therefore additional funding is provided to Scottish HEIs in proportion to their Research Excellence Grant (REG). In FY19/20 funding was allocated to 18 Scottish higher education institutes to support existing ODA grant funding and small projects. GCRF has now supported more than 800 projects at Scottish institutions, involving over 80 developing country partners.

UUKi Delivery Support

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

These are delivery cost for shared learning workshops/training and best practice (for current and future applicants) on ODA assurance, eligibility, reporting and partnership working through either the NF and GCRF