Energy Academy
Emerging Finance Models10 / 12

Venture Capital & Public-Private Partnerships

Scaling innovation; government co-investment in transition projects.

10 min read · Jacob Willis, Net Zero Lead · Last reviewed July 2026


Beyond conventional and performance-based finance, energy projects can tap venture capital for innovation and public-private partnerships for large-scale infrastructure. These models fund the projects that are too novel, too large, or too strategic for ordinary financing.

In this lesson

  • 01Funding innovation: venture capital
  • 02The cleantech investment wave
  • 03Public-private partnerships
  • 04Why PPPs matter for energy
  • 05Government co-investment and support
  • 06Scale and strategic projects
  • 07Sources and further reading