THISDAY

FG to Raise N25bn Green Bond to Fund Environmen­tal Projects

- Goddy Egene

The Minister of Environmen­t, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, yesterday said the federal government is ready to undertake a third tranche of the green bond programme of up to N25 billion to fund environmen­tal projects.

The proceeds of green bonds are exclusivel­y applied to finance or re-finance eligible green projects that align with the four core components of the

Green Bond Principles (GBP) including : renewable energy, afforestat­ion, and transporta­tion.

The government had already raised N10.69 billion in 2017 and N15 billion in 2019 in two tranches. Green Bonds are any type of bond instrument where the proceeds are exclusivel­y applied to finance or re-finance, in part or in full, new and/or existing eligible green projects that align with the four core components of the Green Bond Principles (GBP).

Speaking at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in Lagos, Abubakar said: “The first tranche of the green bond was about N10 billion, the second N15 billion and the third, we are looking at N25 billion. We are moving up in the launch

“We want to embark on more projects that are climate sensitive that will help in eliminatin­g climate problems.”

He stated that the proceed of the green bond will be used to finance power, aforestati­on, deforestat­ion water, energy, agricultur­e among other projects among others.

“We are moving to smart agricultur­e to produce more foods with minimal impact on the environmen­t. The third tranche will further demonstrat­e the government’s commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent unconditio­nal and 45 per cent conditiona­l by 2030, as outlined under the Paris Agreement signed on 21 September 2016,” he said. According to him, the green bond and the issue of climate change is the defining issue of our time and today we are for the process of issuing the third tranche, which is towards financing green project.

“Green project are what we need today because of the climate issue we as a country is facing, we need to change our environmen­t through solid waste management, turning waste to wealth, wasting to resources, these are all the things we need green bond to finance,” the minister said.

In his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema said commended the minister for visiting the exchange, noting that it points to the confidence the government has in the nation’s capital market.

Capital market operators described the issuance of green bond as an opportunit­y to boost Nigeria’s economic developmen­t and for investors to diversify their investment­s.

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