Green credit line launched

The three-year SUNREF programme, developed by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), will mobilise private Namibian banks to finance private-sector investments in green technologies in the sustainable agriculture, sustainable tourism, renewable energy and energy efficiency market segments.

FNB Namibia, Bank Windhoek and Nedbank will provide this green line of credit to project sponsors, while the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia will provide technical assistance to the three participating banks.

Speaking at the launch, Shifeta outlined Namibia's commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement as embodied in the cabinet-approved Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) document of 2015.

“The INDC contains highly ambitious climate-change adaptation and mitigation targets in a range of sectors such as energy, waste, agriculture and forestry and industrial production,” he stated.



Benefits

Shifeta also emphasised the importance of development financing in these sectors and called on increased investments in sectors such as waste management to ensure that Namibia does not lag behind in innovations such as waste-to-energy technologies.

The event saw the showcasing of similar projects financed through SUNREF South Africa and selected projects that had been financed by the Namibian commercial banks through the initiative.

“Although Namibia is a net sink of greenhouse gases that are recognised as a cause of the changing climate, interventions to mitigate climate change such as renewable energy, waste-to-energy projects and cleaner transportation offer excellent opportunities for a cleaner and greener Namibia,” he said.

Shifeta said the country was suffering immense losses due to the impacts of climate change in various sectors of the economy.

The programme, a green credit line developed by the French Development Agency, is worth N$45 million euro (N$670 million), he said.

“Under the programme, the Namibian equivalent of 15 million euro is disbursed to three of the country's commercial banks, namely Bank Windhoek, Nedbank and First National Bank.

“A one million euro grant has also been made available to the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia to set up a Technical Assistance Facility that will simplify interactions between project sponsors and banks.

“The programme will finance bankable Namibian projects in the following priority sectors: renewable energy and energy efficiency, sustainable agriculture and sustainable tourism,” he explained.

These, according to Shifeta, are critical green economy sectors that will open up considerable investment and employment creation opportunities in the country.

“Financing remains a big challenge towards realising a low-carbon development in Namibia. To this end I would like to applaud the efforts of the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia. Amidst an overall environment of shrinking public investment, the EIF continues to mobilise resources for environmental protection and improved livelihoods of our people,” he said.

As the Namibian economy further diversifies and matures, the uptake of new environmentally friendly technologies will be a key growth area, according to the minister.

The French ambassador to Namibia, Claire Bodonyi, regional director of AFD, Martha Stein-Sochas, and representatives of industry in various sectors of Namibia's economy attended the event.



Namibian opportunity

SUNREF Namibia is an innovative programme that supports local businesses to seize the opportunities of ecological transition

The aim of the SUNREF Namibia is to facilitate access to affordable green technologies, thereby guaranteeing the development of a low carbon environmental footprint and contributing to the reduction of the causes of climate change and other environmental disturbances in Namibia.

Financing to enterprises under this programme will be made available through the three participating commercial banks that will each disburse a total investment of 15 million euro for green investments in the sustainable agriculture, sustainable tourism, efficient technologies, and renewable energy market segments.



About SUNREF

SUNREF (Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Finance) is AFD's green finance label.

In the context of energy and environmental transition, SUNREF helps private actors in Southern countries seize the opportunities of this transition via an innovative approach and encourages local banks to finance it.

Since 2006, 42 SUNREF projects have been successfully implemented, in partnership with 70 local banks in some 30 countries of operation, for a total commitment of over 2.5 billion euro of loans allocated by AFD, of which 1.2 billion euro has been disbursed.