Climate Investment Fund (CIF) is a funding channel designed to assist developing countries pilot low emission and climate resilient development approaches. As the fund unfolds, lessons can be gathered from the early stages of the programme. IIED is undertaking case studies of selected countries participating in two Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) programmes - one of which is the Scaling up Renewable Energy Programme (SREP) in Ethiopia and Nepal. This country report looks at the status of SREP in Ethiopia. These initial reflections point to areas where further in depth political economy analysis will be needed to understand how planning and implementation decisions are made and be able to attribute the real cause behind observed trends.