Heinrich Boll Stiftung trains journalists, civil society organisations on green finance

The Heinrich Boll Stiftung’s online training program for journalists and civil society organizations(CSOs) on green finance will start tomorrow, November 19, 2020. The training program was put together to enhance CSOs and Nigerian journalists’ understanding of green finance project tracking in the nation and across the world.

Interest in green finance has grown remarkably in the last few years due to an upsurge in the market value of green bonds issued across the world. Green finance is presently seen as part of socially responsible investments (SRI) which are financial transactions that favour the transition to renewable sources and fight climate change.

One of the financial instruments of green finance is green bonds, which was projected to reach $1 trillion by the end of 2020 from $754 billion in 2019 following increasing activities in green finance by European countries such as Germany, Sweden, Poland, and France. And with the victory of Joe Biden, the United States of America (USA) may join its European counterparts for more green finance projects.
According to Climate Bonds Initiative, $259 billion worth of green bonds were issued in 2019 alone in 1,802 deals involving 506 issuers as against $171.2 billion in 2018 issued in 1,591 deals by 347 issuers.

“The Heinrich Böll Foundation Abuja office and partners offer an online capacity-building programme that will enable select civil society organisations and journalists to better understand the mechanisms of green finance, scrutinize existing investments and start setting the agenda as to what ‘green’ investments should constitute beyond the shallow understandings of the concept. This online capacity building programme is envisaged as only the first step in a sustained engagement on the topic of green finance from a civil society perspective”, Donald Ikenna Ofoegbu, Program Coordinator, said in the notice sent to the selected participants.

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The online training programme will run in four modules. Module One will focus on the Fundamentals of Climate Change and Green Finance. Module Two is on the Introduction to Nigeria Financial Markets; Module Three is on the Deepening the Understanding of Green Finance, while Module Four will address the Green Finance Monitoring by CSO, and they are to run on Thursday, November 19; Friday, November 20; Monday, November 23, and Tuesday, November 24, 2020.

Facilitators include Jubril Adeojo, Hans Verolme, Obi Ugochuku, Emmanuel Sogein, Titi Akosa, and Eugene Itua.

Jubril Adeojo holds a BA in Business Administration (Accounting as major) within first-class honours from the University of Hertfordshire and an MSc. in Strategic Finance with merits honours from Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom. He is also a fellow at the Trans4m Center for Integral Development, Switzerland, and an alumnus of Fate Foundation, the foremost youth and enterprise development NGO in Nigeria.

Hans Verolme is a distinguished expert on global climate change, clean energy and green development policy challenges with over twenty years of experience working across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Obi Ugochuku is the Managing Partner for GCA Capital Partners, a capital market and public sector development advisory firm. He is the adviser to the Nigeria Minister for Environment on climate finance. In this role, Ugochuku was responsible for driving the policy, strategy, and interagency dialogue needed for the implementation of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s N150 billion ($414m) Green Bond program.

Emmanuel Sogein is a graduate of Computer Science and Management Studies from the University of Nottingham. He is the Managing Director of ElCres Green Sustainable Development Ltd, a company that works to galvanize action towards environmental preservation and sustainable development through engagements with public and private sector institutions.

Titilope Akosa is a Nigerian environmentalist, climate justice advocate, lawyer, gender and social inclusive expert and human rights activist. She is the founder and executive director for the non-governmental sustainability organization Centre for 21st Century Issues (C21st) and heads the Law firm of Titi Akosa & Co Nigeria.

Eugune Itua is the CEO of Natural Eco Capital. Natural Eco Capital, a Member of the Natural Capital Coalition, works with governments, financial institutions and investors on emerging sustainability issues as they relate to natural capital, climate change and low carbon economy, sustainable finance and circular economy.