Climate Investment Fund calls for increased seed capital

Managers of the Climate Investment Fund (CIF) have called for an increased seed capital of at least $20 billion to help implement the next phase of programmes to mitigate climate change impact on countries over the next decade.

The CIF received a seed capital of $8.3 million from 14 donor counties in 2008 to implement interventions on climate change mitigation.

It is a global initiative, designed by both developed and developing countries with support from multilateral banks to fund climate change interventions.

The managers of the fund, however, said given the success stories in the first phase of the CIF programmes, there was the need for increased funding for the next phase.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic at a two-day regional stakeholders’ workshop on climate financing in Accra yesterday, a Senior Operations Officer of CIF, Ms

Dora N. Cudjoe, said there was the need for increased and diversified funding sources for the CIF in the light of the critical need to deal with climate change across the globe.

“In 2008, the CIF was given a seed capital of $8.3 million, which we leveraged $53 million in addition. Going forward, we need to scale up and up our game to make more impact in our interventions to mitigate climate change effects on countries.

“Looking at how significant the impact of the CIF has been, if we should start the next phase with at least $20 billion seed fund, it will give us more space to leverage over the next 10 years,” she added.

Next phase

Ms Cudjoe explained that the next phase of the CIF intervention would focus on four thematic areas, which are smart urbanisation, integration of renewable energy into national grid systems, sustainable landscape and decarbonisation of industries.

She said the need for diversified funding sources for climate mitigating interventions was because over-reliance on donor funds was not sustainable.

“Most of the CIF funding come from donor countries, but we are looking at the private sector and non-traditional sources of funding to complement the donor support,” the officer said.

Ms Cudjoe said apart from the call for diversified funding sources for climate change intervention programmes, it was important for countries to efficiently use funds made available to them.

Ghana’s experience

Ghana has experienced an increase in mean annual temperature of one degree Celsius per decade since 1960, while monthly rainfall decreased by 2.4 per cent per decade within the same period.

It is also estimated that if nothing was done to mitigate the effects of climate change, the country's annual real gross domestic product (GDP) would be reduced.

In response to the challenges, the CIF is providing funds for sustainable waste management and renewable energy projects in the country.

A Forest Investment Programme (FIP) is financing over $75 million initiatives through the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank to help restore degraded forest landscapes, improve forest management and reduce pressure on the forest in the country.

The second project involves the scaling up of a Renewable Energy Programme (SREP) in low-income countries, under which $40 million is being invested in Ghana to scale up renewable energy.

Ms Cudjoe lauded the government for prudently managing resources from the CIF and asked for more commitment in the implementation of programmes to mitigate the impact of climate change.

“Ghana has done a significant amount of work in terms of being able to generate resources both from within and outside.

The government has also been able to align national priorities with global climate change initiatives, and that is good,” she added.

Commitment

The Country Director of the World Bank for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone; Mr Pierre Laporte, had earlier said the Bank was committed to implementing a Regional Off-grid Electricity Project (ROGEP) to increase electricity access to households and businesses using modern stand-alone solar systems.

He said the ROGEP was funded with $150 million Individual Development Account (IDA) and $75 million from a CIF Technology Fund.

“We understand the crucial role CSOs and the private sector can play in working alongside governments to promote climate change resilience and adaptation; we need to have an inclusive approach to tackling the challenge,” he said.