The United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) Division of Technology, Industry and Economics
and the UNEP Risoe Centre (URC), in cooperation with the Development Bank of
Southern Africa (DBSA), are organizing the first major forum on carbon
finance in the Africa region targeting the specific needs and interests of
the banking and finance community.
The event seeks to deepen
the level of engagement of local banks and financial institutions in the
emerging carbon market, to enhance local capacities for understanding how
carbon revenues have and can be applied to improve the profitability and
‘lendability’ of various investments, and to facilitate the financing of
previously identified emission reduction activities in Africa, some of which
have already been supported through the efforts of UNEP and others. To be
convened just following pre-G8 consultation meetings of the African
Development Bank and the World Bank, the event will provide an opportunity
to advance the dialogue among the African private sector on the region’s
agenda for tackling the challenge of climate change and major clean
infrastructure financing needs.
The three-day event will
be tailored to the unique and diverse needs of this community and structured
with dedicated time devoted to the following elements:
-
an executive roundtable
for CFOs, CEOs, and members of banking credit committees to share insights
and showcase best practices regarding integration of carbon finance into
mainstream lending and investment decision-making
-
targeted training and
clinics for credit officers and other financial stakeholders on carbon
credit asset creation and due diligence, including the launch of UNEP
Risoe’s new Guidebook to Financing CDM Projects
-
a deal-making platform
providing African CDM developers an opportunity to secure underlying
finance for their bankable projects and to improve the design their
projects with a greater awareness of the interests and lending criteria of
major regional banks.
UNEP/URC will organize and
manage the event with support from africapractice. As a core partner, the
DBSA will host and cater the event in Midrand at their executive conference
facility in. Event organizers will support the participation of two bankers
(e.g. one credit officer and one senior manager from a credit committee)
from leading (non-Francophone) banks in the region, or from a local bankers’
association, including Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique,
Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. In addition, the participation of one or more
project developers with bankable Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project
activities will be supported per participating country. Participation in all
events is without charge; however, due to limited venue space, registration
will be by official invitation only.
Contact:
Glenn Hodes
UNEP Risoe
gsho@dtu.dk
Gregor Pfeifer
africapractice
Phone: +44 20 7462 7550
Fax: +44 20 7462 7573
gpfeifer@africapractice.com
