By FUNMILOLA GBOTEKU

The UK Government funded programme, Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) Nigeria, on Thursday called for proposals to mobilise finance for responding to urgent climate crisis in the country.

The British Deputy High Commission’s Office in Lagos said this in a statement.

The commission said that CFA Nigeria was a climate finance country platform designed to directly respond to the urgency and scale of the climate crisis in Nigeria by mobilising finance for the country’s transition to a resilient, low-carbon economy.

It said that crowding in private finance at scale was essential to implementing Nigeria’s ambitious climate commitments articulated through energy transition plan and nationally determined contribution.

The British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, said: “I am delighted that the Climate Finance Accelerator Nigeria is now open for applications from low-carbon projects.”

He said that the private sector had the potential to play a large part in helping to meet Nigeria’s climate change commitments and was excited to see what innovative projects apply.

“The CFA has already seen great success globally and also in Nigeria. It is fantastic that Nigerian projects will continue to receive bespoke support from technical and financial experts to help increase their chances of securing investment.

“The CFA builds on the UK’s climate leadership, as host of COP26 in Glasgow and is part of our commitment to supporting Nigeria’s transition to a prosperous low carbon future,” Llewellyn-Jones said.

He said that as a catalytic public-private initiative, CFA Nigeria offers substantial value to project developers, financial institutions and the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Llewellyn-Jones said it would create a common ground for project developers and financial institutions to deploy blended finance, de-risk and fund low-carbon, as well as resilient opportunities.

He explained that the CFA acts to improve the bankability of projects and public-private partnerships and also connects projects with financial institutions.

Llewellyn-Jones said the platform identified policy, regulatory and fiscal interventions to enable greater flows of finance, builds understanding and awareness of the climate finance supply chain between businesses and the government.

He said that in 2021 and 2022, CFA Nigeria amassed a pipeline worth 445 million dollars and worked directly with innovative projects to engage Nigerian and global financiers.

“This year, CFA Nigeria intends to expand its pipeline with two further calls for proposals.

“It has engaged extensively with Nigerian financial institutions and members of the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero, Citibank and Standard Chartered to identify avenues by which finance can be made available to viable proponents,” he said.

Llewellyn-Jones said the projects were expected to be selected from the country’s priority sectors according to Nigeria’s nationally determined contribution.

Dr. Uzo Egbuche, Team Leader of CFA Nigeria, said: “CFA Nigeria is recognised as a country platform capable of deploying blended finance and leveraging private finance at scale.

He said they were proud to have established themselves as an independent legal entity in 2022 by serving their core clients of financiers, developers and of course the federal government

“We invite all developers in the climate economy seeking finance to join the pipeline as we begin this next chapter in 2023,” Egbuche said.

He said that asides Nigeria, the CFA programme was also operational in Colombia, Egypt, Vietnam, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa and Turkiye and was being delivered by PwC and Ricardo Energy and Environment.

Egbuche said it is funded by the UK Government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and was implemented in Nigeria with Adam Smith International as the in-country partner.

The commission said that project developers in Nigeria helping to tackle the climate crisis were invited to apply by completing the online application on or before Feb. 17.

According to the commission, interested project developers must be in pre-feasibility stage and should be seeking investment of at least one million dollars with no upper limit. (NAN)

Update news