The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) is mobilising about $250 million through its accreditation with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to bridge Nigeria’s green and climate finance.
The initiative is geared towards a unified strategy to finance Nigeria’s transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy.
“We’ve already deployed over ₦20 billion in green lending to over 250 enterprises, more than 20,000 of which are women-led,” Tony Okpanachi, managing director of the DBN said.
He also emphasised the bank’s commitment to supporting green energy, smart agriculture, sustainable transport, and inclusive financing models.
Speaking during the recent executive roundtable on Green and Climate Finance, themed, ‘Mainstreaming Green and Climate Finance in Nigeria’, Okpanachi said: “This roundtable is about answering one key question: how do we align capital with climate action?”
According to him, climate financing is not only an environmental imperative but also an economic necessity. “Climate action is not optional, it is essential. If we don’t fund adaptation and resilience now, we’ll pay more later,” he said.
Okpanachi said that the roundtable was designed to provide a platform for startups in the green sector to pitch bankable, climate-smart solutions to senior executives from Nigeria’s leading financial institutions.
He also disclosed that the bank is committed to making climate finance inclusive and impactful. “The solutions exist. What we need now is structure, trust, and coordination. DBN is ready to play that convening role,” he said.
Read also: DBN delegation visits AfDB to benchmark sustainability, resilience into financing
Nkiruka Maduekwe, DG, National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), highlighted the need for Africa to take climate issues seriously.
She disclosed that the GCF will help Nigeria think about country-specific projects. According to her, Nigeria is one of the most underserved in green climate projects.
She emphasised that Africa must use its growing population as an advantage to leverage renewable energy and start manufacturing products for the emerging market ecosystem.
She explained that while Africa is the lowest emitter of gas emissions, the continent is highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change due to several factors, like geographical location and low adaptive capacity.
Anthony Nyong, director, climate change and green growth, African Development Bank (AfDB), in a keynote address challenged traditional definitions of climate finance.
He underscored the need to integrate climate goals into mainstream development finance, aligning projects with Nigeria’s nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement.
“Climate finance is not just external funding; it’s also what we’re already doing locally—climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure. These count,” Nyong said.
He also addressed the persistent narrative around Africa’s investment risk, which he considered to be largely perceived risk, and not a statistical reality of the continent.
“Africa does not default the way people think. With backing from partners like the UK, AfDB has secured a $2 billion capital guarantee facility to help de-risk investments in countries like Nigeria,” he said.
The roundtable was also used to unveiled DBN’s Green Finance and Climate Risk Management framework, designed to guide partner institutions in navigating the complexities of sustainable finance.
According to the bank, the framework marks a turning point in Nigeria’s climate finance ecosystem, as stakeholders pledged to deepen green and climate financing by signing the Green Declaration.
It is believed that the Green Declaration represents a strong consensus on the need for deeper collaboration, better data, innovative financing models, and long-term policy commitment.
It also represents shared agreement on mainstreaming climate finance as a core pillar of Nigeria’s development agenda, to safeguard economic growth and improve the livelihoods of Nigerians.
The session also explored the role of innovation, spotlighting startups working in clean energy, waste-to-power, and climate-smart agribusiness.
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