Mozambique may resort to support from the Climate Action Window, an ADB Group instrument with US$8.9 billion for the period 2023 to 2025, as soon as it is structured, the deputy minister of Economy and Finance said today
Amílcar Tivane said that the country had managed to “secure funding for energy areas, particularly for mitigation and adaptation in the face of climate change,” as a result of meetings he had with the vice presidency of the African Development Bank (ADB) for this area.
“Mozambique can submit concrete projects as soon as the architecture of this new instrument is ready,” the Mozambican deputy minister said in a brief interview with Lusa, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the ADB, which he attended this week in the Egyptian city of Sharm el Skeikh.
“We had a very useful discussion, we made our voice heard to look at the issues of climate finance, and not only the issues associated with carbon credits, guarantees for projects with a green growth component,” he said.
This is because, stressed the governor, “it is not enough to have resources”, it is necessary to prepare the projects well, and he noted a “very strong commitment from the bank on associated matters”.
“The quality of the projects makes a big difference”, he stressed, noting that 10% of the total amount allocated for the 2023 to 2025 period is for technical assistance to projects.
To boost climate finance and promote Africa’s resilient development in the face of the effects of climate change, in December 2022 the ADB Fund and its partners created the Climate Action Window for low-income countries.
The amount is 8.9 billion dollars (about 8.3 billion euros), 14.24% more than the availability in the previous period, and 429 million dollars (about 400 million) is ‘seed’ capital used to attract other investors, from state to private, with the aim of reaching a total of 13 billion dollars (about 12.2 billion euros).
Mozambique is a country prone to adverse climatic shocks, and over the last five years it has been particularly plagued by a series of cyclones that “had terrible repercussions in terms of loss of human life, destruction of socio-economic infrastructures that were made with great sacrifice,” recalled the minister.
Therefore, his participation in the annual meetings of the ADB Group, which ends today in Egypt, focused particularly on this issue and on financial and technical support in the preferred areas for development, such as structuring – transport, ports, roads – energy, agriculture and water supply.
Lusa
