Green climate Fund Board Approves Nigeria’s $100m Solar Programme
The board of the global fund created to support the efforts of developing countries to fight climate change has approved nine new climate resilience and low emission projects worth $440 million, including Nigeria’s $100 million solar programme.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) board took a raft of decisions to strengthen the organisation for its first replenishment at the 22nd meeting, which ended last week in Songdo, South Korea. It also took steps to strengthen operations, reinforce standards and close policy gaps.
The fund seeks to promote a paradigm shift to low-emission and climate-resilient development, taking into account the needs of nations that are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts.
GCF enters the replenishment process after a successful year with the overall portfolio now including 93 projects in 96 countries with total GCF investments over $4.6 billion. More than half of the projects worth over $2billion are already under implementation.
Nigeria’s scheme being promoted by Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and will “reduce or avoid 476,487t CO2 eq on an annual basis, and 9,529,739 t CO2 eq. over the life of the programme”. It will also expected to reduce the perceived risks of investing in the Nigerian renewable energy sector and catalyse private sector investment.
Other projects approved include $29.6 million for Mali solar rural electrification project, $18.8 million for promotion of climate-friendly cooking: Kenya and Senegal and $69.6 million for Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD) climate finance facility to scale up solar energy investments in Francophone West Africa LDCs in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, the Niger, and Togo.
Javier Manzanares, Executive Director ad interim, stated, “GCF now has a $5 billion portfolio in 97 countries supporting low-emission, climate-resilient development. With decisions to ensure better governance, new project approvals, and a reinforced readiness programme, this Board meeting has left us in great shape for our first replenishment.”
The nine new project approvals bring GCF’s portfolio to a total of 102 projects and programmes, committing $5 billion of GCF resources for climate action in 97 developing countries. Including co-financing, the portfolio channels $17.7 billion in climate finance through its network of 84 Accredited Entities. The new approvals include the first REDD+ results-based payments to be financed, relating to the Brazilian Amazon.
GCF was set up by the 194 countries who are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010, as part of the Convention’s financial mechanism. It aims to deliver equal amounts of funding to mitigation and adaptation, while being guided by the Convention’s principles and provisions.
