Rwanda will, over the next two weeks, share the country's green investment opportunities at the Rwanda Pavilion in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt. This was announced, on Sunday November 6, during the opening ceremony of the 27th UN climate change conference (COP27). Rwanda's delegation attended the Opening Ceremony led by the Minister of Environment, Jeanne D’arc Mujawamariya. “Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time. It is causing frequent and intense droughts, heat waves, storms and floods. We need a global effort to combat climate change and we look forward to negotiations at COP27 to call for tangible action,” stated Faustin Munyazikwiye, Rwanda Lead Negotiator who is Deputy Director General of Rwanda Environment Management Authority(REMA). Nick Barigye, the CEO, Rwanda Finance Limited (RFL) stated that Kigali International Financial Centre is making efforts to accelerate the mobilization of capital for green and sustainable projects. “Sustainable finance is one of Kigali International Financial centre’s priorities. Our sustainable finance roadmap demonstrates that we are taking important steps to steer Rwanda towards becoming a leader in sustainable finance by accelerating the mobilization of local, regional and international capital towards green and sustainable projects,” he said. Rwanda is committed to becoming a green economy and reducing emissions by 38 per cent by 2030. “Through our green growth and climate resilience strategy, we can join hands and find innovative ways of raising financing, investments and partnerships that will enable us to achieve our sustainability goals,” stated Clare Akamanzi, the CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB). Rwanda's Pavilion at the summit will be opened on Monday November 7. Bilateral meetings and partner visits are expected on Tuesday where there will be the launch of Ireme Invest [Rwanda's green investment facility] to be run by Rwanda Green Fund and Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD). The facility will be solely dedicated to financing private investors’ green projects. The facility will operate under the “Green Bank” model and is seeking $100 million to start operations. COP27 is an opportunity for Rwanda to engage development partners to meet the remaining financing needs of $6 billion to maintain and accelerate momentum to deliver on Rwanda’s climate agenda according to Claudine Uwera, The Minister of State in charge of Economic planning at MINECOFIN.. Rwanda needs $11 billion to implement measures to mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects. During the two-week conference, Kigali International Financial Centre will launch Sustainable Finance Roadmap. Future of carbon markets in Rwanda On Thursday, Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) will unveil The Future of Carbon Markets in Rwanda. Rwanda, like some few African countries, is preparing to leverage a market scheme of trading carbon credits which an entity gets by reducing emissions extensively beyond the required levels and selling them to those unable to meet their reduction requirements. The sectors with potential to sell carbon credits include green transport, forestry, waste management, renewable energy among others according to Herman Hakuzimana, the Environment and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Specialist at Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA). African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR1000 event “Leading the Way - Government Needs and Restoration Finance”, green Investment Opportunities in Rwanda, the coalition of finance ministers for climate action, pathways to decarbonizing the built environment and advancing Africa’s adaptation finance agenda beyond cop27 are among the major events to be held at Rwanda Pavilion. The pavilion will also host events on gender and climate change vulnerability hotspot mapping in Rwanda, investing in nature based solutions in Rwanda, the future of climate forecasting in Rwanda, the promise and potential of young people in climate action Rwanda Nationally determined contributions (NDC) facility will also be launched by Rwanda and German on Monday November 14. The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 opened on Sunday 6 with the key aim of ensuring full implementation of the Paris Agreement. Discussions at COP27 begin near the end of a year that has seen devastating floods and unprecedented heat waves, severe droughts and formidable storms, all unequivocal signs of the unfolding climate emergency. According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, CO2 emissions need to be cut 45% by 2030, compared to 2010 levels to meet the central Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Call for focus on three critical areas Simon Stiell, the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, asked governments to focus on three critical areas at COP27. The first is a transformational shift to implementation of the Paris Agreement and putting negotiations into concrete actions. The second is cementing progress on the critical work streams of mitigation, adaptation, finance and loss and damage, while stepping up finance notably to tackle the impacts of climate change. The third is enhancing the delivery of the principles of transparency and accountability throughout the UN Climate Change process. Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs and COP27 President said: “We’re gathering this year at a time when global climate action is at a watershed moment. Multilateralism is being challenged by geopolitics, spiraling prices, and growing financial crises, while several countries battered by the pandemic have barely recovered, and severe and depleting climate change-induced disasters are becoming more frequent.” He added that COP27 creates a unique opportunity in 2022 for the world to unite, to make multilateralism work by restoring trust and coming together at the highest levels to increase our ambition and action in fighting climate change. “COP27 must be remembered as the ‘Implementation COP’ – the one where we restore the grand bargain that is at the centre of the Paris Agreement,” he said. A report published by UN Climate Change ahead of COP27 shows that whilst countries are bending the curve of global greenhouse gas emissions downward, efforts remain insufficient to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. Since COP26 in Glasgow, only 29 out of 194 countries came forward with tightened national plans.
