Helping Sudan access climate finance

While the needs for climate change mitigation and adaptation is growing at an alarming rate in many developing countries around the world, the access to finance for climate action is lacking behind. In a process of capacity building, UNEP DTU Partnership is working with a broad range of stakeholders in Sudan, to help the country access climate finance from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). With the support of the Climate Technology Centre & Network (and NDC Partnership), UNEP DTU Partnership is helping stakeholders develop concept notes that operationalise Sudan's NDC and lives up to all the GCF requirements, bringing finance for climate action a major step closer. Enabling countries to access the available finance is a fundamental part of closing the gap between climate action needs and investments. As a recent report from the International Energy Agency shows, there is no shortage of capital, but many developing countries struggle to meet the demands to access the necessary funding from major international investors and donors.

Intensive workshops and long-term sparring

The capacity building process consists amongst others of a 5 days of intensive virtual training, that were concluded in the end of May. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the training was moved online but kept as an intensive and full-time event, combining plenaries and group work elaborating four project ideas in the form of a GCF concept note. The training enabled groups to articulate the climate rationale of the projects, internalise the GCF requirements and investment criteria in the design and comprehend the various financial instruments and principles. UNEP DTU Partnership experts will now provide follow-up mentoring and sparring over the next month, culminating in an event where groups pitch their project ideas for GCF Accredited Entities, such as UNDP and UNEP. A similar capacity building process was conducted in Eswatini in 2020. Here, at least three of four project ideas identified in the newly drafted Eswatini Green Climate Fund (GCF) country programme were picked up and will move forward for GCF funding application, thus likely to receive financial support from the GCF.