Media Center

The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment in collaboration with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) hosted the Middle East and Africa Green Financing Policy Dialogue which took place from 21 to 22 November 2016 at GGGI’s office in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The dialogue was organised with the aim of addressing the challenges of developing bankable projects and advancing the discussion about innovative green finance. It is also aimed at exploring the barriers to green growth investments in the Middle East and Africa region to understand better how the flow of finance could be increased by examining international financing instruments and assessing national financing vehicles.

The policy dialogue was attended by high-level officials from government, multilateral development banks, international development agencies and the private sector from 12 countries (UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal)

Commenting on the importance of the event, Eng. Hussain Khansaheb, Director of Green Development Department of the Ministry of climate change and the environment said: “Green financing and investment is one of the main priorities of the UAE strategy of green development and a basic element in its green agenda. The nation has already started making fundamental changes in the financing sector and establishing strategic partnerships with significant national companies in the field of investment and financing. It also developed policies and regulatory frameworks to motivate the private sector for a bigger participation in the green projects.”  

He pointed out the experience of the UAE in the gradual transformation to the low carbon growth launching leading projects such as Mohammed Bin Rashid Solar Energy Complex, the largest solar power station in the middle east which has a new world record in Solar PV cost obtaining the lowest global price of 2.99 US cents per kilowatt hour.

“The UAE has an ambitious target to reduce the dependence on the fossil fuel and transfer to a diversified economy based on innovation and knowledge and we think that this is the apt time to take concrete action to promote the green development projects as many countries already started implementing their action to combat climate change issues,” Hussain Khansaheb added.

Khansaheb stressed on the role played by companies in green growth through innovation and investment, and the role of governments in providing an environment that enables the companies to flourish in the global green economy is very important.  He also discussed ways to get rid of the barriers to the flow of capital in order to implement clean energy initiatives.

On the sidelines of the dialogue, a training workshop will be conducted on 23 November for participants from the UAE and Jordan delegations to shed light on the methods of financing green growth development projects.

In addition, on 28 November a lecture on the subject of Innovation and climate change will be organised for university students.