Experts have identified sustainability financial instruments such as green bonds, sustainability bonds, sustainability financing, climate-tagged investment and other dedicated grants and investments put together by national government, private Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investors as well foreign investors as a levers to support climate resilience in Africa.
This was made known during a webinar organised by the Sustainability Professionals Institute of Nigeria (SPIN), formerly known as the Association of Sustainability Professionals of Nigeria (ASPN), and sponsored by First Bank of Nigeria, on the theme, “Harnessing Climate Finance Opportunities In Nigeria.”
In his opening remarks, the Head Sustainability, Media and External Relations, First Bank, and also the Director of Advocacy and Stakeholder Relations, SPIN, Ismail Omamagbe, asserted that the Sustainability Professionals Institute of Nigeria (SPIN), which was formerly known as the Association of Sustainability Professionals of Nigeria (ASPN), is a platform that promotes the practice and profession of sustainability in line with global-best practice of sustainability in Nigeria.
The keynote speaker, Obi Ugochukwu, Managing Partner, GCA Capital Partners, opined that in terms of organising domestic resources, the draft of the NDC, which outlines the targets and measures that represents Nigeria’s contribution to global climate change and also redrafted in 2021 with improved targets; the Medium-Term National Development Plan; the Energy Transition Plan; the Long-Term Vision Plan; and the recent commitment to set up the climate change fund by the banker’s committee, make up the key milestones of Nigeria’s commitment to climate action.
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Emmanuel Etaderhi, Executive Secretary, Finance Center for Sustainability, Lagos, postulated that in future all finance will be sustainable finance, which he described as Green, Social and Sustainability-linked (GSS) financing. This essentially merges all the components into sustainable finance.
This has become a necessity as the world is amplifying efforts towards living sustainably and not limiting the living standards of the future generations.
Olusegun Alebiosu, Executive Director and Chief Risk Officer, First Bank, harped on the need to embrace sustainability as it ultimately improves the quality of our lives as humans, protects the general ecosystem and preserves natural resources for future generations.
He added climate finance can come from very different sources such as public or private, national or international, bilateral or multilateral.
Michael Bensor, a representative of the National Council for Climate Change, opined that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) expanded the meaning of climate finance to include technology transfer from one component to the other.
