Traditional project finance has long hinged on the sanctity of the PPA — secure the tariff, and the capital will follow. But climate markets are introducing a deeper logic: energy assets are no longer just generation machines; they are climate hedges with collateral value that extends far beyond electricity sales.

We already see this in practice:

    •  Sovereign credit is being underpinned by climate transition packages (South Africa’s JETP).
    •  Corporate green bonds are priced against renewable adoption, not just balance sheet strength.
    •  Microgrid repayments in Africa are tied to solar uptime, showing that energy can directly underwrite creditworthiness.

The implications for developers and financiers are profound. Climate infrastructure can be securitised against carbon productivity, forex hedges, or avoided import bills. At scale, this flips the financing model from one-dimensional PPA-backed projects to multi-dimensional climate collateral frameworks.

The opportunity for corporate leaders and policymakers is to reimagine financing structures not around tariffs, but around the systemic value of climate infrastructure. This is where impact finance converges with hard infrastructure.