Posted on March, 28, 2019 at 10:19 am
REGIONAL development bank, TDB has signed a memorandum of understanding with French development agency, AFD to jointly commit U$120 million in financing climate change mitigation projects.
Representatives from Agence française de Dévelopement (AFD) and the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) signed the agreement recently in Nairobi on the side-lines of the fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4).
The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have given a renewed impetus to development finance, focusing in particular on the tremendous importance of the climate agenda and on the convergence of national and international agendas in terms of sustainable development, the two parties said in a joint statement.
The activities of multilateral and bilateral development banks such as TDB and AFD clearly fall under these renewed mandates.
With the statement letter, AFD and TDB were expressing their interest to pursue discussions regarding the structuration of a U$120 million credit facility in 2019. The projects that will be targeted will be climate-oriented and will include renewable energy projects, lower-carbon and energy efficiency projects, agriculture, forestry and land-use, non-energy GHG reductions, water, waste management, resilient infrastructure and buildings.
Both institutions are also committed to jointly promote the role of multilateral and bilateral banks for climate finance.
AFD and TDB are both members of the International Finance Development Club (IDFC), which has a strong focus on the climate agenda. AFD will facilitate and support TDB’s increased engagement in this area of focus, including by harmonizing its climate finance data with IDFC methodologies in advancement of the Paris Agreement objectives.
“AFD is committed to 100 percent compatibility with the Paris Agreement, which calls for low carbon resilient development pathways for all. With this credit line of U$ 120 million, we are happy to support TDB in its endeavor for financing inclusive and sustainable climate strategies for SMEs in renewable energy, agriculture, resilient infrastructure, and more,” said Rémy Rioux, AFD’s CEO and Chairman of IDFC:
“AFD and TDB are members of the IDFC, the leading network of 24 national and regional development banks, totalling U$4 trillion in assets, and U$ 850 billion of annual commitments. IDFC doubled its climate finance commitments since 2015, reaching U$ 200 billion in 2017. Our network demonstrates that development banks can champion climate-friendly investments, a key message of the One Planet Summit,” Rioux added.
“TDB and AFD’s relationship goes back some 8 years ago,” said TDB President and Chief Executive, Admassu Tadesse who also noted that the first cooperation agreement was signed in 2012, and then followed by a U$ 75 million credit facility and U$ 0.5 million technical assistance program focused on infrastructure and project finance in Africa in 2017.
“This supported the implementation of three renewable energy projects among others. The growing partnership with AFD will enable TDB to continue stepping-up its climate efforts, which have been growing robustly in recent years
Source: IPP Media