BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes
THE governments of Japan and Austria have approved a US$1 million fund to strengthen the participation of the private sector in combating climate change in Africa, including Zambia.
The funding will be channelled to the Africa Private Sector Assistance (FAPA) grant, which aims to expand the role of the private sector in the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of African countries.
NDCs are national efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and form part of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
According to a statement from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the project will be implemented by the Climate Change and Green Growth Department of the continental bank.
AfDB said the project was intended to engage the private sector, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in improving the integration of climate change measures in their investment decisions.
“The project is expected to contribute to green and inclusive economic growth in the target RMCs and enhance the capacity of SMEs, project developers and sponsors to scale up green investments that support NDCs.
“It will also help increase private sector investments that facilitate the implementation of NDCs in target countries. The project will address constraints to attracting climate finance, including lack of enterprise knowledge, and insufficient capacity in preparing green bankable projects,” said the bank.
