July 2017 – Present
The Climate Finance Accelerator was created by Ian Callaghan and Tessa Tenant in the run-up to the 2015 Paris Climate Summit. It is a facilitated process of practical assistance from financial and green finance experts to address finance and investment arising from the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. I joined CFA in 2017 to lead the engagement with Nigeria and have since significantly contributed to its further development.
The first workshop took place in London in September 2017, drawing on the world-leading financial and climate expertise located in the City and on the range of finance mechanisms available, including bonds, lending, equity, grants, insurance, and innovative and blended hybrids. The project involves green finance experts, commercial banks, investment practitioners, development finance institutions and dedicated donor climate funds, allowing the full scope of mitigation and adaptation needs to be addressed. The countries represented were Mexico, Colombia and Nigeria.
Workshop report is in the subfolder Reports
The second workshop too place in Lagos in January 2019, bringing together Nigerian green finance experts, project proponents and investors, ranging from large commercial banks to venture capital providers. The Nigeria SEC and Stock Exchange as well as Ministries of Finance and Environment were involved. The Lagos workshop built on Nigerian participation in the 2017 CFA in London and aims to embed CFA within Nigerian plans for implementation and financing of its NDC. Following a Call for Proposals, a dozen projects were supported in their work with financial experts to prepare termsheets for investment. Workshop report is in the subfolder Reports
See also:
https://ee.ricardo.com/climate-change/climate-finance/climate-finance-accelerator-nigeria
In July 2019, supported by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund the Climate Finance Pathfinder was launched with a focus on support for least developed and lower-middle income countries. We conducted an extensive green finance mapping in Nigeria, where we identified over 200 sources of capital for blended investment in climate action opportunities. Workshop report is in the subfolder Reports
The mapping has since been extended to Ethiopia and Uganda.
In January 2020, the UK government announced it would provide long-term funding for CFA across up to 6 additional upper-middle income countries. The tendering process is currently ongoing.
Author: Hans Verolme
Hans Verolme is the founder of the Climate Advisers Network and has extensive analytical and advisory experience in Africa, South America and Asia and is widely recognized as an expert across the entire spectrum of low carbon transitions. With over 20 years of international negotiations experience, he has been a valued adviser to governments, foundations and civil society. Prior to setting up the Climate Advisers Network, he advised the British ambassador in Washington, DC, and served as Global and US Climate Change Director of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). All politics is local, climate politics is global. Hans has worked in, amongst others, Barbados, Bhutan, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, European Union, Georgia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Myanmar, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Suriname, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States.