BOI, AFD Collaborate To Combat Climate Change In Nigeria

The Bank of Industry (BOI) and the French Development Agency (AFD), have signed a grant agreement of 2.5 million Euros, delegated by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to enhance their partnership to fight climate change in Nigeria.

The Project Manager at AFD, Ms. Aïssatou Kumagangue made this known in a statement made available to the media on Thursday, in Abuja.

The statement stated that Xavier Muron, Country Director of AFD, Nigeria, and Olukayode Pitan, Managing Director (MD) of BOI, met under the patronage of Emmanuelle Blatmann, Ambassador of France in Nigeria and ECOWAS to fight climate change in Nigeria.

According to the statement, because France committed more than 1.5 billion Euros to the Green Climate Fund since 2019, it was only natural that the meeting was held at the French Embassy.

Expansion of green finance

It stated that on August 23, 2022, BOI and AFD signed a 100-million-Euro credit-line for the expansion of green finance in Nigeria.

This was approved under AFD’s Transforming Financial Systems for Climate (TFSC) Programme with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a US$ 650 million-Programme developed in 17 countries for 100% climate investment projects.

The TFSC Programme focuses on financing investments that contribute to climate change mitigation, specifically projects focused on renewable energy, low carbon and efficient energy generation, climate smart agriculture technologies, clean urban transportation and others.

BOI and AFD have a better understanding of the importance of mainstreaming Climate Finance within BOI’s strategy and operations.

Technical assistance

Therefore, the grant agreement sets up a technical assistance scheme for BOI.
The objective is to build the capacity of BOI, thereby providing tools for effective identification and development of eligible bankable climate-related projects and improving the readiness of the bank’s customers to implement green practices in their operations.
He said the implementation of the Environment and Social Governance framework provided for in the credit agreement would be an important part of the technical assistant mandate.
“Given the serious threat that climate change poses to equitable and sustainable development in Nigeria, it is critical for BOI to take the lead in mobilizing capital for green and sustainable investment.
In addition to the line of credit, the 2.5 million-Euro Technical Assistance funds will support capacity building for BOI and its customers, thereby enabling the scaling of current efforts by BOI towards climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Mr. Olukayode Pitan, MD, BOI, said it would contribute significantly to reducing Nigeria’s carbon footprint, with specific reference to Gender Equality.
He said it would also support BOI in the development and implementation of gender equality and gender lens investing policies.

NAN/Lateefah Ibrahim