The government in collaboration with Standard Chartered Bank has embarked on promoting sustainable green financing to ensure net zero emissions by 2030.
Uganda started its green shift as a way of addressing climate change in 2015 and was updated last year, with different interventions and projects to reduce emissions by 24.7 percent by 2030.
The ND-GAIN Matrix world standard ranks Uganda13th most vulnerable country when it comes to climate change effects, yet it is the 160th in readiness to avert this problem.
For this reason, various entities and companies have taken different strategies to mitigate the problem, and Standard chartered bank has brought together key stakeholders including the government to strategize for improved mechanisms, especially green financing, within the Ugandan economy.
Sanjay Rugani the standard chartered bank Uganda CEO, says that it is very important bringing together everybody who believes in reversing climate change effects through green financing something that would save Uganda.
“This meeting got us to understand what the government strategy in this line is we have understood how financial service providers and development partners can help clients maximize the opportunities provided in this line,” Rugani explained.
He added that Standard chartered has a big commitment to sustainable development which is more important than profit making. Reverting climate change should involve everybody including the customers, the regulators, and fellow industry players.
According to Rugani, Standard Charted internally has a goal to go net zero by 2025, and a lot of progress has been made in this line, and now they want their clients to change as they work with the government as well in the carbon trading area.
“As a bank we finance transactions, but we are reducing financing to some projects that are not environment friendly, and now we are creating alternative interventions for our customers to create a transition on how carbon emissions can be reduced, we also work with the government in the carbon trading aspects and support them with better clients internationally, who can come and be better partners for Uganda,” he added.
Betrrice Anywa, the state minister for water and environment, said that such forums are very crucial to the formulation of guiding principles, as well as informing policy direction, especially at this critical time when the environment has to be jealously protected.
She adds that the government has already set targets in the line of environmental protection and restoration, to which the private sector should attach their interventions, to move together as a county.
“As a government, we have embarked on the parish development model, and all interventions should be aligned to this program because this means serving Ugandans up to the lowest point. It will be important when the development partners and financial services providers use this channel to help the ordinary Ugandan and appreciate the interventions” the minister says.
Dennis Mugagga, the head of the climate finance unit in the Ministry of Finance, revealed that one of the new strategies to promote a green economy is the nature loan swap with the various development partners.
Mugagga explains that under this arrangement, the government negotiates with the various entities it owes money to, and instead of the repayment of the loan, the money is channeled to greening interventions and that it is so far working very well.