Sustainable Use of Natural Resources & Energy Financing (SUNREF), a green finance label developed by l’Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) and supported by the European Union (EU), has launched its energy-financing programme in Accra.
The programme is a unique and innovative financial offer with a credit line of €30million from the AFD and €4million from the EU, provided to local partner banks for structuring green investments to help companies, organisations, individuals and households seize the opportunities of green finance and the ecological transition.
Through partnerships with local banks like CalBank, SUNREF Ghana will offer competitive loans and technical assistance for structuring green investments.
It aims to develop and consolidate a financing market for green investments in the area of energy efficiency, renewable energies and environmental services by supporting eligible and viable green projects. This is expected to help increase the competitiveness of businesses – particularly SMEs, improve energy security, and strengthen the capacity of local stakeholders.
Minister of Energy, Matthew Opoku Prempeh – who launched the initiative, said the programme will help small- and medium-size companies to seize the opportunities created by the intervention from AFD to invest in renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects.
“The SUNREF programme will be extended to energy-efficiency initiatives; for instance, transport owners who wish to convert their fleet from fossil-fuel to electric vehicles,” he said, adding that “the outcome of these projects will immensely contribute to reductions in energy consumption and CO2 emissions, and enable us to meet Ghana’s target as captured under the Ghana Nationally Determined Contribution.”
French Ambassador to Ghana, Anne-Sophie Ave, speaking at the event said the collaboration between the European Union, AFD and local partnering banks “represents a stepping-stone toward energy transition and the decrease of Ghana’s carbon footprint and energy intensity”.
She declared: “The SUNREF Ghana project supports ambitious greenhouse gas emission reductions in Ghana,” and also commended Ghanaian partner-bank CalBank for setting an example and being the first bank to join the project.
As part of the SUNREF Ghana launch, a panel – featuring representatives from CalBank, Ghana Commercial Bank, the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), the Association of Small Scale Industries and the Solar Association of Ghana – discussed sustainable natural resource management in the country, focusing on the challenges and opportunities of creating a green energy market in the country.
As a major local actor in the promotion of renewable energy and energy-efficiency, the Energy Commission is the key partner in implementing the technical assistance component of the programme.
The SUNREF Ghana programme is part of a worldwide initiative developed by AFD to mobilise public and private banks to finance private sector investments involving green technologies and sustainable energy.
