The UK-Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum organized a pivotal workshop, “Roundtable on State Access to Climate Finance,” aimed at enhancing the capacity of state commissioners, Directors General, advisors, and officials to secure climate finance for development projects.
Held in Abuja on Wednesday and Thursday, the workshop was especially timely given Nigeria’s significant challenges from climate change and the urgent need for sustainable financial solutions.
The organizers announced this in a statement on Friday.
The statement reads, “States are on the front line of responding to climate change so the intent of this roundtable is to help states explore how climate finance can be a tool to accomplish their development goals, and specifically how to work through political and financial viability of projects and initiatives to better approach sources of climate finance.
“It will also aim to share experiences between states and kick start inter-state collaboration, with the support of NGF.”
According to the organisers, the worship aimed at sharing state-level experiences of integrating climate finance with current development and investment priorities.
“Insights from UKNIAF: Participants will gain valuable insights from UKNIAF’s extensive work on project development and strategies for accessing climate finance.
“Collaboration platform: The workshop aims to foster collaboration among states on issues of collective interest; Path to bankability: The event will provide a space for states to identify and discuss areas of work necessary to achieve bankability for climate-related projects,” they added.
Meanwhile, the themes for discussion include the roundtable which will focus on the interests of the participants and will feature highly interactive discussions on various key themes; Carbon Market Financing: Exploring opportunities within carbon markets and how to develop projects that can attract investment.
Others are Bankability: Strategies for developing and originating projects that are attractive to climate finance investors and Green Bonds: Understanding the opportunities, realities, and challenges of issuing state-level green bonds to finance or refinance projects.
“The workshop highlights the increasing interest in subnational access to climate finance, acknowledging that states are at the forefront of climate action. Supported by the NGF, this event represents a significant step toward enabling states to attract climate finance for their development needs effectively.
“United Kingdom Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF) is a UK government-funded initiative designed to support Nigeria in developing its infrastructure sectors. UKNIAF provides technical expertise and capacity building to foster sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
