Rwanda recently submitted revised its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
This in turn revealed that the country requires over $11 billion to implement the measures between 2021 and 2030 to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The measures include renewable energy, green transport, waste management, climate-resilient agriculture, clean technologies in industries, green buildings, green cities, reforestation, water security, wetlands restoration climate compatible mining, disaster motoring, adaptation to disease outbreaks, livestock and crop insurance, storm water management, floods control among many others.
This is part of measures to create essential tools to implement the Paris Agreement that was signed in 2015 to cope with climate change by reducing global warming.
Explaining the source of financing, Theophile Dusengimana, the Environment and Climate Change Policy Specialist at Ministry of Environment explained that out of $11 billion, it is expected that $4.155 billion will be sourced from domestic financing known while $6.885 billion will be sourced from external financing.
"Domestic financing will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 16 per cent while external financing will reduce the emissions by 22 per cent. In total, both means of financing will reduce emissions by 38 per cent,” he said.
At least $5.677 billion will be spent on mitigation measures to reduce causes of climate change while $5.364 billion will be spent on adapting to the effects of climate change.
"Out of $5.677 billion needed for mitigation measures, $2.010 billion will be domestically sourced while $3.667 billion will come from external financing,” he noted.
The plan shows that in order to obtain $5.364 billion for adaptation measures, at least $2.145 billion will be financed by domestic means while $3.218 billion will be funded by external partners.
The Ministry of Environment says that there should be a consolidated project pipeline that guides resources mobilization generated from NGOs/Private sector and Public sectors of Rwanda’s economy.
The private sector and civil society organizations are expected to also plan and execute projects that contribute to the ten-year climate plan by integrating climate change in all projects they implement.
Leveraging international funds
The Climate Change Policy Specialist said that the international funds that can be leveraged to finance the plan include Green Climate Fund (GCF) created to support the efforts of developing countries in responding to the challenge of climate change and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) that provides grants for projects related to biodiversity, climate change mitigation, land degradation, chemicals and waste, climate change adaptation and international waters.
Others include the Adaptation Fund established to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol and are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
And the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) was established in 2001 to support the least developed countries work programme under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), including the preparation and implementation of national adaptation programmes of action (NAPAs) among many other sources of financing.
"We need capacity to design bankable projects. We will be carrying out resource mobilization through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Rwanda Green Fund and international partners,” he said.
He said that Rwanda Green Fund (FONERWA) is developing a strategy to mobilize $6.885 billion from external financing sources.
"We have also to attract investors. We have to identify project ideas and a package of projects. We hired an international consultant to help carry out resource mobilization strategy guiding on how to get resources for the ten-year plan,” Dusengimana added.