The EU Global Technical Assistance Facility for Sustainable Energy (EU GTAF)

Sustainable energy is crucial to fight poverty, boost inclusive economic growth, and fight climate change. However, in many partner countries the lack of necessary energy sector reforms prevents the scaling-up of sustainable energy solutions. Investors often perceive the energy sector in partner countries as difficult and risky. This might be due to inadequate regulatory frameworks, market distortions, and limited institutional capacity, which all constitute barriers to renewable energy investments. These issues hamper the development of the sustainable energy sector, prevent urgently needed private sector investments and impede the capitalisation on the vast renewable energy potential in partner countries. The EU’s global Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) for sustainable energy addresses these problems and thereby contributes to reaching SDG7 and helps partner countries meet their development objectives and targets of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.

Spurring energy sector reforms

The EU’s global Technical Assistance Facility- TAF is a long-standing EU programme that assists partner countries in improving regulatory frameworks, enhancing institutional capacities and mobilising investments in sustainable energy. TAF works with a variety of stakeholders promoting cross-border energy cooperation and strategic partnerships, while supporting knowledge transfer and communication. The high-level technical assistance and policy advice is delivered at country, regional and global level through expert missions mobilised at short notice. Amongst other activities, TAF carries out stocktaking missions, programming support, studies, reports, awareness seminars, document preparation, workshops, and trainings. TAF is hence a concrete example of the pillar 2 of the EU’s External Investment Plan, which focuses on supporting governments in enacting reforms to attract investors.

Boosting green energy solutions through new global facility

The first phase of the programme was split up in three sub-facilities covering different regions – Eastern & Southern Africa, Central & Western Africa, and the rest of the world. With more than 400 impactful assignments in over 80 countries and regional institutions worldwide under the first phase, an additional EUR 31.5 million has been added for a new global TAF*, providing new momentum to promote green, innovative, and sustainable energy solutions for the period 2020-2024.

*The total amount allocated to TAF for both the first and the current phase is EUR 82.3 million

How to benefit from TAF

TAF support is demand-driven: national or regional authorities submit requests for technical assistance, transmitted through the respective EU Delegations. Once approved, TAF experts reformulate the request into specific Terms of Reference and then launch the assignment.

Funding instrument

DCI

Implementing organisations

European Commission