Development Bank of Nigeria Gains Green Climate Fund Accreditation
The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has achieved a significant milestone by securing accreditation from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). This accreditation enables the DBN to access green financing for Nigeria’s manufacturing sector and other vital areas.
Tony Okpanachi, Managing Director of DBN, hailed the accreditation as a crucial collaboration to bolster Nigeria’s fight against climate change. He emphasised the nation’s urgent need to address environmental challenges such as desertification, global warming, erratic rainfall, storms, and floods.
Okpanachi highlighted that the accreditation would support sustainable development and the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies in sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, education, transport, and logistics. He underscored the existential threat climate change poses to Nigerians, impacting livelihoods through the depletion of grazing lands, rising sea levels causing severe flooding, shifting rainfall patterns affecting agriculture, deteriorating water and air quality impacting health, and significant biodiversity loss.
The GCF accreditation authorises the DBN to develop and submit funding proposals for climate-related projects, manage their implementation, and utilise a variety of financial instruments such as concessional loans, co-financing, and blending for loans. It also empowers the bank to mobilise private sector capital for climate change initiatives.
The accreditation encompasses projects under various categories, including basic and specialised fiduciary standards, project management, on-lending and blending for loans, environmental and social safeguards risk (Category B), and medium-sized projects.
Recently, the DBN provided opportunities for qualified tech entrepreneurs to secure financing deals at the 2024 DBN Techpreneur Summit 3.0 in Lagos, underscoring its commitment to fostering innovation and sustainable development.
