IDBZ to establish Climate Finance Facility

THE Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) board chair, Mr Joseph Mutizwa says as part of efforts by the bank to strengthen its capabilities to mobilise resources for climate finance, it is in the process of establishing a Climate Finance Facility (CFF) which is designed as a stand-alone trust fund.

The development bank was in 2022 accredited to the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

The GCF is a global fund created to support the efforts by developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change.

Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe

The fund pays particular attention to the needs of societies that are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, in particular Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and African States.

GCF also helps developing countries limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

It also seeks to promote a paradigm shift to low-emission and climate-resilient development, taking into account the needs of nations that are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts.

Accredited entities can be private or public, non-governmental, sub-national, national, regional or international, as long as they meet the standards of the fund.

In a financial statement for the year ending 31 December, Mr Mutizwa said as a fully accredited Direct Access Entity (DAE) of the GCF, said the IDBZ is authorized to process projects with values between US$10 million and US$50 million.

“The accreditation is for a 5-year period, starting 18 January 2023. Looking ahead, the Bank will be working with both public and private sector project sponsors and Development Partners to come up with project/funding proposals for consideration by the GCF.

“To fortify the Bank’s capabilities to mobilise resources for climate finance, the Bank is in the process of establishing a Climate Finance Facility (CFF) which is designed as a stand-alone Trust Fund.

Constitution of the founding CFF Board of Trustees was completed by the appointment of members in 2022,” he said.

He said the Deed of Trust was duly registered in March 2023 and focus is on developing the CFF Prospectus for use in engaging funding partners.

The bank was established through the IDBZ Act (Chapter 24:14) to champion sustainable infrastructure development in Zimbabwe through mobilisation of resources, capacity building, knowledge generation and sharing in support of national efforts for inclusive socio-economic development.-chronicle