The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the UK-Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF) have partnered to ease the abilities of state governments to get access to funding for climate action programmes and projects.
The two parties underscored the imperative of the collaboration through a workshop at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja titled, ‘Roundtable on State Access to Climate Finance’.
A statement issued by the UKNIAF and the Governors Forum said the aim was to bolster the ability of relevant State Commissioners, Directors-General, advisors and officials to secure climate finance for their development needs.
“States are on the front line of responding to climate change so the intent of this roundtable is to help states explore how climate finance can be a tool to accomplish their development goals, and specifically how to work through political and financial viability of projects and initiatives to better approach sources of climate finance.
“It will also aim to share experiences between states and kick start inter-state collaboration, with the support of NGF,” the statement said.
It noted that the event was especially timely as Nigeria faces significant challenges from climate change and the pressing need for sustainable financial solutions.
It stressed that the workshop “highlights the increasing interest in sub-national access to climate finance, acknowledging that states are at the forefront of climate action.
Supported by the NGF, this event represents a significant step towards enabling states to effectively attract climate finance for their development needs.”
The organisers intended the roundtable to achieve the following: Sharing state-level experiences of integrating climate finance with current development and investment priorities.
Insights from UKNIAF: Participants will gain valuable insights from UKNIAF’s extensive work on project development and strategies for accessing climate finance.
Collaboration platform: The workshop aims to foster collaboration among states on issues of collective interest.
Path to bankability: The event will provide a space for states to identify and discuss areas of work necessary to achieve bankability for climate-related projects.
Also, the roundtable featured interactive discussions on: Carbon Market Financing – exploring opportunities within carbon markets and how to develop projects that can attract investment; Bankability – strategies for developing and originating projects that are attractive to climate finance investors; Green Bonds – understanding the opportunities, realities and challenges of issuing state-level green bonds to finance or refinance projects.
The UK-Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF) is a UK government-funded initiative designed to support Nigeria in developing its infrastructure sectors and provides technical expertise and capacity building to foster sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
