DBN gets climate change fund accreditation

The Development Bank of Nigeria Plc (DBN) has announced that it has received the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Accreditation and has thus become the first Direct Access Entity (DAE) and the only authorized Nigerian channel for accessing green financing from the GCF.

The Managing Director of the Bank, Tony Okpanachi who made the announcement at a media briefing yesterday informed that the Bank’s accreditation by GCF, will benefit Nigeria in many ways.

He said: “Through this collaboration, Nigeria will receive a boost in its fight against the effects of climate change (desertification, global warming, unpredictable rainfall patterns, storms, floods) as well as assist the country’s efforts towards achieving sustainable development, promotion of environmentally friendly technologies in key sectors of the economy including agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, education, transport and logistics etc.

“It will also help create greater awareness on climate change, culminating in greater involvement of Nigerians in climate actions prompting a shift towards green economy as well as raising the Nigerian portfolio in climate financing globally, and unlocking more climate funds.”

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Okpanachi noted that climate change has become an existential threat to humanity as extreme weather conditions have caused devastating effects on livelihoods – depletion of grazing lands for livestock, rising sea levels causing excessing flooding that displaces communities.

He further noted that with the accreditation, the DBN is empowered to “develop and submit funding proposals for projects and programmes, oversee management and implementation of projects and programmes, deploy a range of financial instruments such as concessional loans, co-financing and blending for loans and mobilize private sector capital for such climate change initiatives.”

The Managing Director added that the accreditation covers projects that fall under the categories of basic fiduciary standards, specialized fiduciary standards, project management, on-lending and/or blending for loans, ESS Risk: Category B and medium-sized projects.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the world’s largest dedicated fund helping Small Island states, and least developed and developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and enhance their ability to respond to climate change.