UK Launches Climate Change Finance Accelerator Nigeria
The UK Government funded programme, Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) Nigeria, on Thursday called for proposals to mobilise finance as response 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.
NAN/Lateefah Ibrahim
