By Hauwa Ali and Fatima Saka
The French Development Agency (AFD), under its Transforming Financial Systems for Climate (TFSC) Programme with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), has again signed a grant agreement of 2.5 million Euros, delegated by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) with the Bank of Industry (BOI) to fight climate change in Nigeria.
This is contained in a statement by Ms Aïssatou Kumagangue, Project Manager at AFD, on Thursday in Abuja.
According to the statement, Country Director of AFD, Xavier Muron and Managing Director of BOI, Olukayode Pitan, met under the patronage of Emmanuelle Blatmann, Ambassador of France in Nigeria and ECOWAS to fight climate change in Nigeria. The meeting was held at the French Embassy.
The TFSC programme focuses on financing investments that contribute to climate change mitigation, specifically projects focused on renewable energy, low carbon and efficient energy generation, climate smart agriculture technologies, clean urban transportation and others.
BOI and AFD understand the importance of mainstreaming Climate Finance within BOI’s strategy and operations.
Therefore, the grant agreement set up a technical assistance scheme for BOI.
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The objective is to build the capacity of BOI, thereby providing tools for effective identification and development of eligible bankable climate-related projects as well as improving the readiness of the bank’s customers to implement green practices in their operations.
In this context, the implementation of the Environment and Social Governance framework provided for in the credit agreement will be an important part of the technical assistant mandate.
“Given the serious threat that climate change poses to equitable and sustainable development in Nigeria, it is critical for BOI to take the lead in mobilising capital for green and sustainable investment.
In addition to the line of credit, the 2.5 million Euros Technical Assistance fund would support capacity building for BOI and its customers, thereby enabling the scaling of current efforts by BOI towards climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Mr Olukayode Pitan, MD of BOI, said it would contribute significantly to reducing Nigeria’s carbon footprint, with specific reference to Gender Equality.
He said it would also support BOI in the development and implementation of professional gender equality and gender lens investing policies.
It is recalled that on Aug. 23, 2022, BOI and AFD signed a 100 million Euro credit-line for the expansion of green finance in Nigeria.
This was a US$ 650 million programme developed in 17 countries for 100 per cent climate investment projects.
