By Peter Musila
Kenya’s capital city is set to attract billions from the multitrillion-dollar green financing fresh investments. From a new report, Nairobi has the potential of attracting Sh871.59 billion ($8.5 billion) from the aligned climate change projects.
The city’s largest investment opportunities being on public transport, Green buildings and electric vehicle. A report by World Banks Group’s Private sector- International Finance Corporation (IFC) shows that investment opportunities in green bonds are set to hit a $29.4 trillion 2030 in relation to the climate-related actions and targets globally.
Cities have adopted public-private partnership and green bonds in bid to attract building urban resilience and private capital- Climate Investment Opportunities
“There’s a great urgency to address climate change — we must take meaningful action now. Cities are the next frontier for climate investments, with trillions of dollars in untapped opportunities,” IFC chief executive Philippe Le Houérou said in a statement.
By 2035, the demand for water in the city is set to double, paving way for $360 million (Sh36.91 billion) investment opportunity in the wastewater and water sector.
“The Kenyan city expects a sharp rise in housing construction, leading to an investment opportunity of over $1 billion (Sh102.54 billion) in greening those buildings,” the World Bank’s private sector lending arm says.
Since Nairobi hosted the United Nation’s Sustainable Stock Exchanges executive dialogue on green finance, it has been considering ways to promote environmental sustainability conservation through funding its projects.
To achieve this, Kenya will need an estimated Sh2.4 trillion so as to be able to support afforestation, public transport, renewable energy, urban planning and building, water and waste management projects in a bid to mitigate global warming and climate change effects- Green Bond Programme.
So as to finance the green projects, a three-year program was launched in 2017 with the aim of accelerating mobilization of funds from both the domestic and foreign investors through the City bourse.
In line Paris Agreement of December 2015, countries have been racing to mitigate the global warming hence the global green bond recording doubled increase from 2016 $87.2 billion (Sh8.76 trillion) to $155 billion (Sh15.58 trillion) recorded last year. Global leaders further pledge to limit global warming to below two-degree Celsius as per the Paris deal with Nigeria being recorded as the first country to tap into globally popular investments in the continent by raising $30 million (Sh3.01 billion)
In South Africa, Growthpoint Properties- a property investment firm lead after listing 1.1 billion-rand (Sh8.38 billion) bond for financing commercial green office blocks on April 25.
