Zambia’s Green Economy and Environment Minister Mike Mposha, has advised bank representatives attending the Conference of Parties (COP29) in Azerbaijan, to ensure they pass on the benefit of their engagements to the Zambian people.
Mr. Mposha has also encouraged the institutions to pay attention to international financing processes in order to ensure successful onward financial transfer towards green projects in Zambia.
“The Zambian is grateful that we have several financial institutions in our delegation and this is critical because once financial resources are provided to the Country, banks are the conduit through which these monies are accessed”. “It is also important for the banks to understand climate finance on a higher level because supporting green projects requires full understanding by the terms and conditions of the multilateral financial institutions,” Mr Mposha emphasised.
Meanwhile some of the banks attending COP29 pledged their continued support towards the fight against climate change in Zambia.
INDO Zambia Bank Representative Caleb Mbambala said the bank was at the climate summit to forge partnerships that will enable the bank serve its customers in an innovative and sustainable way.
“INDO Zambia Bank is committed to providing the best possible solutions to the needs of its customers bearing in mind that Zambia is recovering from a major drought, which means our approach has to be in line with the current needs of our people. Therefore, we have products in renewable energy and resilient agriculture,”, he explained.
Meanwhile, Zanaco Bank’s Representative Chanda Chime Katongo, said the bank had empowered 1,500 Smallholder farmers in Central Province with Nitrogen fixing trees, a project being carried out with in partnership with One Acre Fund to create resilient farming for vulnerable communities.
And the Zambia Industrial Commercial Bank (ZICB) explained that apart from funding clean cooking projects in Zambia, the bank was also working with the Mukuni Royal Establishment in Kazungula district, on a project to restore the Zambezi river, through the Songwe tributary.
Representing ZICB, Nangiza Ngoma said “we at ZICB understand the impact the drought has had on the Country, this is why we are supporting projects which are restoring nature such as the Zambezi river.”
And Stanbic bank said the institution was at COP29 to partner with like minded institutions in order to provide a larger financial threshold to its clients. “We are carrying out various projects such as the LETS SECURE THE ZAMBEZI with WWF. We are also financing clean energy projects and we are actively supporting green projects in Zambia,” The Bank’s Representative, Emmanuel Imbula said.
And speaking on the sidelines on COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) General Coordinator Million Belay expressed concern at the slow pace exhibited by the global North towards climate change adaptation funding.
Dr. Belay said Africa’s food security needed climate finance in order to withstand the climate shocks affecting the agriculture sector all over the continent.
“I am skeptical at the slow progress being made during negotiations, Africa needs over one trillion dollars, yet even the earlier agreed upon US$100 billion is yet to be actualised, one wonders what happens next,” Dr Belay said in an exclusive interview.