By Ojoma Akor
The UK Government has extended the Ayrton Fund to 2030, and also announced an £88 million scale-up of its flagship Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform.
A statement from the Ayrton Forum said the announcement was made on Monday at the start of the London Climate Action Week, which also includes the publication of the UK’s fourth International Climate Finance (ICF) strategy – setting out how the UK will mobilize finance, strengthen resilience, and accelerate access to clean and affordable energy worldwide, while reinforcing the UK’s own security and prosperity.
The Ayrton Fund builds on innovative UK-international partnerships in more than 100 countries, which have already improved the lives of 46 million people across Africa, Asia, and the Indo-Pacific, mobilized £3 billion in investment, and enabled more than a quarter of a million green jobs in the UK and abroad.
The Ayrton Forum brought together more than 300 leaders from across business, finance, government, academia, and civil society to celebrate the Fund’s achievements and discuss how to accelerate clean energy transitions in emerging economies ahead of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets.
Speaking at the event, Professor Sir John Edmunds, Chief Scientific Advisor at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, said:
“The future of development is about bringing innovation and investment together and delivering smarter, more sustainable, and more diverse finance flows. Fairer access to knowledge, skills, and technology, and ensuring countries and communities shape solutions.
“Ayrton exemplifies this – the UK working as an international partner – moving ideas from research into the real world by bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs, governments, investors, and multilateral institutions. In an uncertain and contested world, energy is the pivot issue on which so much rides – security, development, climate, and equality.
“Through this work, these partnerships, this Forum, and this week in London, I am proud that the UK is playing its part in building a cleaner, fairer, healthier future for all.”
Launched in 2021, the Ayrton Fund brings together the UK Government’s ODA clean energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) portfolio under a single cross-government framework spanning the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
It supports clean energy technology innovation, as well as the business models and systems needed to deploy them at scale. The Fund contributes to SDG7 on energy and SDG13 on Climate, and aligns with wider UK priorities, including the Global Clean Power Alliance (GCPA) and the Foreign Secretary’s priority of “accelerating the global clean energy transition while delivering opportunities for the UK”.
Since launch, UK-supported innovations have:
-Improved clean energy access for 46 million people in developing countries.
-Leveraged £3 billion in additional public and private investment.
-Reduced CO₂ emissions by 14 million tonnes – the same as the annual carbon footprint of 2.5 million people in the UK
-Enabled more than 256,000 green jobs globally
The Fund has also delivered clear benefits for the UK, supporting over 300 UK‑based organizations involved in clean energy research and innovation, and enabling more than 1,000 UK jobs. Examples of Ayrton-stimulated innovations include solar-powered irrigation systems, zero-emission generators, sustainable cold-chain technologies, green fertilizers, smart grids, clean industrial processes, and new energy storage solutions. These expand clean energy access, affordability, and security, and underpin economic activity and resilience in regions especially vulnerable to fossil fuel price shocks.
The forum examined how innovation can move more quickly from trial phases to wider deployment, and the role of international partnerships in scaling technologies and attracting investment.
The event featured six sessions focused on the key challenges and opportunities that Ayrton has been tackling, which are critical for clean energy transitions in developing countries:
Electrifying Development – expanding access to electricity and increasing electrification as a share of energy use across households, businesses, and social services.
Green Industrialization – supporting low-carbon industrial growth and reducing emissions in hard‑to‑abate sectors.
Powering Inclusive Growth – driving jobs, entrepreneurship, and economic development through clean energy solutions and just energy transitions.
Leaving No One Behind – ensuring the benefits of modern energy reach the poorest and most vulnerable communities
Green Grids – strengthening grid infrastructure and integrating clean energy supply with evolving demand.
Supply Chain Innovation – building resilient, diverse, and sustainable supply chains, including critical minerals, local manufacturing, and eWaste recycling.
The discussions across these sessions focused on how to move innovation from pilot to scale, with an emphasis on investment, partnerships, and market development.