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UDB’s green investment efforts receive praise
(Left) Hon. Lawrence Songa, MP representing Ora County also Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change in Parliament, Patricia Ojangole MD UDB(in white) and Right- Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, the newly elected Executive Director of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage
Uganda Development Bank has been lauded for prioritizing lending to private companies that seek to reduce or cut back the country’s carbon emissions to in order to minimize the adverse effects of climate change.
Uganda’s progressive policy environment and government’s efforts in extending capital to private enterprises in areas of low carbon industrialization, green manufacturing and climate resilient infrastructure dominated discussion during a high-level meeting convened by Uganda Development Bank (UDB) on the sidelines of the just-ended COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
In his keynote address, Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, the newly elected Executive Director of the at the recently established Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said that it is important today more than ever for any financial institution to mainstream climate financing.
Patricia Ojangole, the Managing Director of Uganda Development Bank (UDB) emphasized that while developing nations like Uganda are on the Frontline of climate change, they also show innovation and contribute valuable solutions to the climate crisis.
She pointed out that UDB’s Climate Finance Facility is designed to address these challenges. Since the establishment of the facility in 2019, the bank has approved projects worth $85 million in low carbon industrialization, green manufacturing, and climate resilient infrastructure among others.
Green manufacturing constituted 82% of the projects UDB structured and approved this year.
“The Bank established the Climate Finance Facility to coordinate green financing initiatives in the Bank, provide technical support in structuring green interventions, provide guidance regarding the green financing options, identify and assess low carbon and climate resilient investments, and propose suitable adaptation and mitigation strategies for projects. The idea is to deliberately finance interventions that target reducing emissions and building the resilience of Ugandans to the impacts of climate change,” Ojangole said
Joseph Nganga, the Vice President for Africa Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) said Uganda has one of the best policies for renewable energy and has deployed a number of small hydro energy projects through leadership in the regulator.
“Uganda also is very innovative in terms of driving green and climate friendly investments. For example, Uganda is one of the few if not the only country on the continent that has an e-cooking tariff that encourages cooking with electricity thus reducing emissions,” Nganga reported.
He added that the country set up a hybrid funding system to encourage connections to the poorer parts of the country to ensure everyone has access to electricity.”
In Uganda, effects of climate change have turned rainy seasons around with the country experiencing shorter or longer rains and harsher droughts – especially in eastern and north-eastern Uganda.
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