• British International Investment and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners will each commit $150 million to North Star, a new $300 million renewable energy platform for India.
• North Star is the first investment under BII’s British Climate Partners initiative, which is expected to mobilise £3.5 billion in private capital over its investment lifetime.
• The platform will target solar, wind, hybrid and storage projects expected to generate more than 4 million MWh of clean energy each year and avoid around 4 million tonnes of annual carbon emissions.

UK-Backed Climate Finance Targets India’s Power Buildout

London hosted a new push into Indian renewable power this week, as British International Investment launched North Star, a $300 million platform designed to accelerate clean energy development in one of the world’s fastest-growing power markets.

The platform will receive $150 million from BII, the UK’s impact investor and development finance institution. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners will provide a further $150 million through its Growth Markets Fund II.

North Star is the first investment made through British Climate Partners, BII’s £1.1 billion climate finance initiative. The programme was launched last month as part of BII’s new five-year strategy. It aims to draw large-scale institutional capital into climate solutions across fast-growing and coal-dependent Asian economies.

The wider British Climate Partners initiative is expected to mobilise £3.5 billion in private capital over the lifetime of its investments. That would take total expected commitments to £4.6 billion.

India Faces A Major Climate Finance Gap

India has rapidly expanded renewable energy tenders, yet many developers still lack the capital and development capacity needed to move projects from planning into construction and operation.

North Star has been designed to address that gap. The platform will focus on bringing projects to scale while attracting additional private capital into the market.

India plans to more than triple renewable energy capacity by 2030. However, it faces a funding gap of about $160 billion a year to meet that target. For investors, that gap reflects both climate risk and market opportunity. For policymakers, it raises a central question: how quickly can public finance be used to unlock private capital at scale?

North Star will invest across solar, wind, hybrid renewable energy and storage projects. The platform’s projects are expected to generate more than 4 million MWh of clean power annually. They are also expected to avoid about 4 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

Development Finance Moves Beyond Aid

The launch took place at the Global Partnerships Conference in London. The event was co-hosted by the UK, South Africa, BII and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.

More than 600 leaders from governments, international organisations, philanthropy, investors, technology and civil society were expected to attend. The conference focused on new partnerships and financing models for development priorities.

Minister for Development, Baroness Chapman said: “We have heard what our partners have been calling for. They want to work in partnership with the UK. Countries want to have more control, move beyond aid, attract investment, strengthen their own health and education systems, and take charge of their own futures.

“Traditional development finance alone cannot meet that call, indeed it never could. Nor can it respond to the scale of today’s challenges. We need to bring new ideas and a broader coalition of partners to the table.

“The decisions that come out of this conference will benefit everyone: stronger economies, fewer crises, and a more stable and prosperous future that unlocks opportunity.”

Her remarks frame a broader shift in development finance. Governments and development institutions are under pressure to prove that public capital can mobilise private investment, especially in markets where climate needs are rising faster than available finance.

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Private Capital Comes In From Day One

Leslie Maasdorp, the Chief Executive of British International Investment, said: “At the launch of our new strategy last month, we said that BII would focus on mobilising private capital to address acute development needs and combat the climate emergency. North Star is the first embodiment of that commitment.

“By partnering with CIP, we are crowding in private capital from day one of this new platform and I expect further private investment in North Star over the following years.”

CIP’s participation gives North Star access to a specialist infrastructure investor with experience in renewable energy across growth markets.

Peter Jannik Sjøntoft, Partner in CIP’s Growth Markets Funds, said: “Closing this transaction with British International Investment marks an important milestone in CIP’s continued commitment to India’s renewable energy sector. By establishing a platform alongside BII, we are creating a strong foundation to deploy long-term capital into scalable, high-impact renewable investments that contribute meaningfully to India’s decarbonisation and energy security goals.”

BII Looks To Replicate Earlier India Success

BII has previously backed India’s green transition through platform investment. In 2018, it invested $100 million to launch Ayana, a renewable generation platform. Ayana later attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in private capital and was sold last year for an enterprise value of $2.3 billion.

North Star follows that model, but at a moment of greater urgency. India’s energy demand is rising, coal remains central to power generation, and renewable expansion now depends on deeper pools of long-term capital.

For C-suite leaders and institutional investors, the platform shows how development finance institutions are positioning themselves as market builders, not only project financiers. For emerging economies, it points to a financing structure that links national energy security, industrial growth and decarbonisation.

The test will be whether North Star can move projects from pipeline to generation quickly enough to help close India’s clean power gap. If it succeeds, it could become a template for climate finance across Asia’s coal-dependent growth markets.

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