Importance of Climate Financing

In July 2023, Shantha Bloemen, one of our fund directors, joined a United Nations Development Programme - UNDP side event as part of a Green Waste and Energy Expo in Harare.

The session was intended to be part of building momentum on Zimbabwe’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and Long-Term Low Emissions Development Strategy (LT-LEDS) Investment Plan that will develop sectoral roadmaps, including for the waste and energy sectors.

Zimbabwe alone estimates it will need $7.8 billion of climate investment to reach the NDCs.

Achieving the National Determined Commitments (NDCs) to reduce a 40% per capita emissions reduction across all sectors of the economy by 2030 and National Climate Plan will depend on concrete projects, measures and activities to create concrete mitigation and adaptation plans.

The panel discussion moderated by Eng. Lewis Makurumure, from UNDP, along with Dr Dingane Sithole (PhD), the Executive Director of the Business Council for Sustainable Development and Dr Solsten Ziuku, from the Ministry of Energy & Power Development highlighted how there needs to be a focus on:

• Creating new business models

• Leveraging both private and public investment

• Investing in green energy generation

• And rethinking how we consume energy to create more linkage to inclusive shared solutions that focus on productivity rather than consumption.

As the global weather patterns indicate, climate change is real, happening fast and will have severe consequences. The increase in Zimbabwe’s mean annual temperatures could potentially exceed 3°C by 2050, depending on the actual global emissions pathway achieved (ICLEI Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Report: 2020).