New climate roadmap facilitates public-private sector engagement
Government has launched the Africa Green Business and Financing Flagship Initiative (AGBFI) Country Roadmap, a strategic tool aimed at promoting sustainable business practices and attracting green investments.
The roadmap, created in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) based on the Africa Green Business and Financing Report released in May 2024, outlines a path for Malawi to harmonise business, finance, and environmental considerations in its development planning.
In his opening remarks at the launch in Lilongwe on Thursday, Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change Principal Secretary Yusuf Nkungula said the roadmap is a crucial step towards creating a more sustainable and resilient economy.
“By promoting green business practices and attracting green investments, we can create new jobs, improve livelihoods, and protect our environment,” he said.
In a separate interview, UNDP country representative Fenella Frost said the roadmap seeks to present a series of practical steps and actionable recommendations designed to help Malawi identify ways of leveraging its potential to advance the green business agenda while fostering sustainable green development.
“The roadmap addresses key barriers such as limited fiscal incentives, an unclear framework for private sector involvement in climate finance and a still-developing regulatory environment,” she said, referencing barriers identified in the Africa Green Business and Financing Report.
According to African Development Bank figures in the Malawi Country Action Roadmap, Malawi needs at least $46.3 billion (about K81.07 trillion) to achieve its mitigation and adaptation targets in agriculture, water, health, population and human settlements as well as disaster risk management, among other sectors.
The roadmap, thus, recommends that the government leverage Malawi’s natural resources such as the forests and Lake Malawi into financial asset classes that can support investment, build a green venture capital eco-system and develop a local voluntary carbon market, among others.
Simultaneously, the government, through the Malawi Environment Protection Authority (Mepa), awarded grants worth K600 million to four councils for climate change projects funded through the Climate Change Account, a significant milestone considering that this is the first time Malawi has financed a climate mitigation project using local resources.
Nkungula said the projects are expected to demonstrate how domestic resources can be effectively used to address the impacts of climate change.
“By supporting locally-led projects, we can ensure that the benefits of climate action reach the most vulnerable communities,” he said.
On the award of the grants, Frost commended the Malawi Government for taking a bold step to generate resources locally instead of depending on grants and loans from its development partners.
On his part, Mepa board chairperson Robert Kafakoma urged the awardees to use the grants they got in the pilot phase to incentivise more investment for expansion to other districts and councils.
