President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the least developed nations to adopt the issuance of sovereign green bonds in order to fund environmentally sound projects.
Represented by the Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, the president made the call on Tuesday at the UN conference on LDCs in Doha, Qatar.
A green bond is a fixed-income instrument for raising money for climate and environmental projects.
Nigeria issued its first sovereign green bond in 2017 and was the first nation in Africa to do so. It raised $10.7 billion to pay for solar energy and reforestation initiatives. A second bond that was issued by the nation in 2019 raised an extra $15 billion.
Buhari urged the world’s most vulnerable countries to adopt domestic resource mobilisation, adding that it breaks the difficulty in accessing climate finance.
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In his words, ‘‘Domestic resource mobilization is likely to break the yoke of difficulties in accessing funds from developed countries’ financial institutions, like Nigeria’s issuance of two sovereign green bonds that raised over N30 billion.”
‘‘LDCs and developing countries must take a serious stand on the Cummings-Montreal resolutions on a new funding mechanism that is flexible, accessible and utilizable,” he added.
He asserted that Nigeria is leading the way in climate action and would make sure to support Sahel countries in their efforts to adapt to and reduce their vulnerability to the effects of climate change.
He added that Nigeria was committed to using its status as the Sahel Climate Fund’s headquarters to ensure that members had access to financing for climate change under more equitable terms.
Story was adapted from TheCable
