In Montevideo’s bustling port, trucks are beginning to run on cleaner power. Across the country, engineers are testing Uruguay’s first autonomous charging station for heavy vehicles and laying the foundations for a pilot green hydrogen plant. These projects are early signs of a profound shift in how Uruguay powers its future.
That shift is being driven, in part, by the Joint SDG Fund, which has committed over US$10.9 million to Uruguay through two major programmes. The first helped the government design an Integrated National Financing Framework, a unified plan to mobilize resources and track progress across all Sustainable Development Goals. The second is far more ambitious: building an innovative financing vehicle to accelerate Uruguay’s Second Energy Transition.
At the center of this effort is the Renewable Energy Innovation Fund (REIF), a blended finance facility launched with support from UNIDO, UNDP, and UN Women. The Fund works by pooling concessional resources with private sector financing, creating a platform where risk is shared and opportunity expanded. Seven commercial banks, including global players like BBVA, HSBC, and Santander as well as local institutions like Banco República, are now part of this coalition. Together, they are opening new credit lines for businesses tackling electric transport, energy storage, waste management, and other clean energy ventures.
For entrepreneurs, this means access to loans and guarantees sized between US$100,000 and US$1 million to push Uruguay further along the path to decarbonization. Already, the Fund has backed projects that range from next-generation charging stations to green hydrogen production for cargo trucks. By 2025, the REIF is expected to mobilize US$50 million in additional capital through banks and international financiers, multiplying the impact of its initial investments.
The ambition does not stop there. With long-term projections of unlocking between US$240 and $320 million in clean energy investment, the REIF is poised to transform Uruguay’s economy and labor market. By linking climate action with employment and gender-responsive financing, the Fund is ensuring that the benefits of the transition are widely shared. Vulnerable populations stand to gain from expanded access to clean energy, more affordable transport, and the new jobs that will emerge in a low-carbon economy.
Uruguay is already a global leader in renewable power, with more than 90 percent of its electricity coming from clean sources. But the Second Energy Transition is about going further by decarbonizing transport and industry, boosting energy storage, and positioning the country as a green hydrogen hub for the region.
The Joint SDG Fund’s contribution may be financial in form, but its real impact is human. It is in the cleaner air children breathe on the streets of Montevideo, the new opportunities created for small businesses venturing into green technology, and the strengthened resilience of communities facing climate change.
Note:
All joint programmes of the Joint SDG Fund are led by UN Resident Coordinators and implemented by the agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations development system. With sincere appreciation for the contributions from the European Union and Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland for a transformative movement towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.
