Myriam Montrat, Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, presenting the Financial Institution of the Year, Africa category award to Dr George Agyekum Donkor, President and Board Chairman for EBID

EBID committed to climate, sustainable projects — Board Chairman

Daily Graphic Jan - 09 - 2025 , 17:23 3 minutes read

The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EDIB) remains committed to climate issues and sustainable development projects.

Already, the EDIB has received 1 million Euros from the European Investment Bank to enhance the former’s climate-related and sustainable development projects.

The President and Board Chairman for EBID, Dr George Agyekum Donkor, reaffirmed the bank’s commitment after it was presented with the Financial Institution of the Year, Africa category award, at the Africa Sustainability Awards held at the Arena of the Accra International Conference Centre on December 30.

Dr Agyekum Donkor, who received the award from the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Myriam Montrat said, “For us to be able to sustain our operations, it is important for us to pay attention to climate issues in accordance with SDG 13.

“Therefore, the bank has committed itself to ensuring that climate issues are taken on board seriously. For that reason, we have financed several climate-related projects across all the countries of West Africa,” he said.

Awards

The African Sustainability Awards (ASA) is a platform that honours individuals, organisations, businesses, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and government bodies that demonstrate a high commitment to sustainable practices.

This award recognises EBID's outstanding dedication to sustainable practices across Africa and its commitment to advancing Africa’s environmental, social and economic progress in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Commitment

The EBID president said in line with its mission of improving access to sustainable financial resources in West Africa, the bank has to date, committed over U$1 billion to sustainability-driven projects, guided by its Strategy for 2021-25.

He said the bank financed projects in the areas of agriculture, energy, mining, infrastructure, industry and services.

“It is for this reason that the African Sustainability Awards has recognised our role as a leading institution committed to climate change and committed to sustainable development activities, hence the award.

“This award is an affirmation of our commitment to climate issues in West Africa and of course Africa and the world,” Dr Agyekum Donkor stated.

He further explained that the bank’s attention to sustainable initiatives had gained international recognition with the credit received from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support climate-friendly and sustainable projects in the ECOWAS sub-region.

Initiative

It will be recalled that in February 2023, EBID published its
first Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) finance framework, formalising its commitment to green financing and sustainability initiatives.

This was followed by the maiden edition of the bank’s informative series dubbed “The President's Round Table” on the theme "Greening West Africa" in October 2023.

The programme, which gathered environmental and sustainability experts from across the continent, focused on the effects of climate change in West Africa and made proposals for climate-conscious economic development.

Additionally, EBID is also in the process of finalising its accreditation to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and in that regard, recently received a high-level delegation from the GCF, South Korea, for discussions on measures aimed at positioning the bank to better support the sub-region in this area.