The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) will partner with Invest Africa (www.InvestAfrica.com) to generate sustainable finance solutions for the Continent during The Africa Debate 2021. The forum, which will take place from 14-16 September, will see African business, policy and other industry leaders meet to discuss how the region can assert its priorities for a sustainable and transformative recovery as regional entities look to drive a return to global growth.
Mohan Vivekanandan, Group Executive: Origination & Coverage, DBSA will lead a discussion with leading banks, regulators, capital markets investors and others to outline how sustainable finance can generate growth in emerging markets. Whilst green finance has made significant strides in Western markets, it has been under-funded and thus under-utilised in developing countries. Redressing this imbalance is essential both to global recovery efforts and to ensuring a just transition.
If the world is to meet its climate targets and keep global heating below 2 degrees Celsius, the next decade will be critical. The adaptation and mitigation measures needed demand large upfront capital investments, which invariably poses a challenge for developing countries. Without a concerted and collaborative global effort to build replicable and scalable sustainable finance there is a danger that that regions with the greatest potential, including Africa, to leapfrog more developed markets in the transition to the green economy could be starved of capital.
As an African development bank, the DBSA continues to pioneer a path to creating sustainable finance solutions adapted to African markets. The bank launched its first green bond with support from the French development finance institution, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) this year and also has a climate finance lending facility in partnership with the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The DBSA’s leading role in The Africa Debate will forge pathways for further strategic partnerships and collaborations between development finance institutions and global financial markets to scale the use of sustainable finance in African markets.
Karen Taylor, CEO of Invest Africa, said “The DBSA has a critical role to play in de-risking investment in Africa and crowding in private sector financing for sustainable infrastructure projects. The aim of The Africa Debate is to foster productive partnerships between the private and public sector as well as across borders and we look forward to taking part in the discussions led by the DBSA.”
Mohan Vivekanandan, Group Executive: Origination & Coverage, DBSA commented “DBSA continues to chart a leading role on the Continent, cognisant of our unique and specific contextual challenges, in the momentum towards a low carbon economy actively participating in the implementation of a just transition as evidenced by our support of sustainable investment programmes including the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) and Embedded Generation Investment Programme (EGIP) among others.
Moreover, our accreditation to global partners including the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the GCF has further propelled our role in promoting and leveraging sustainable development regionally in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.