Power grids in five emerging countries to get investment support

GLASGOW: Ukraine, Fiji, Colombia, Kenya and Mali will be the first countries to participate in an investment program announced on Thursday that will help developing countries transform their power grids to carry growing levels of renewable energy.

The Climate Investment Funds (CIF), created by the world's biggest economies in 2008 to help developing countries accelerate their shift to a low-carbon economy, said its new initiative would help those countries bridge a huge gap in investments needed to integrate renewable energy sources.

Experts estimate that global infrastructure investments will have to ramp up to $820 billion annually by 2030 to facilitate the decarbonization of power systems.