Players in the financing sector have welcomed the new banking initiative of green financing where financial institutions are driving towards offering financial services that support to mitigation of the effects of climate change.
Attending a green finance capacity-building training hosted by aBi Finance in Jinja, Leilah Nakayima, a loans officer at Centenary Bank, Jinja Branch said that the training is very important for all bankers.
"We should give out loans while looking out for projects that are sustainable and developmental, for us and the generations to come. It is our job as Centenary Bank to see that we preserve our environment and Green Financing is the way to go. We have been harming the environment through the loans we give out to finance certain projects,"Nakayima said.
Paulyne Nabakawa from ASA Microfinance said Green Financing is most welcome in ASA because they have been trying for some time, to invest in Agricultural lending but the response has been so small maybe because of machinery, fertilizers, so this training is teaching them how to help their clients practice sustainable development and gain from it.
"We are going to encourage our clients to adapt to fertilizers, machines that are not harmful to the environment, for example, charcoal burners to plant more trees like if you cut five trees, then plant 100 of them, we encourage the farmers to use organic fertilizers that are less harmful to the environment," Nabakawa said.
Victoria Adong, a trainer from the Uganda Institute of Bankers and Financial Services told participants during a training in Jinja District that the purpose of the training is to equip the credit officers of different Financial Institutions with information concerning green financing so that we can have environmental sustainability and be able to have a resilient environment for future generations.
"The problems of climate change are already in existence but how are we mitigating what is coming our way, how are we overcoming the challenges of climate change that are coming our way, how are we conserving the biodiversity around us," Adong said.
She said during the training, they have equipped the participants with information so that they can disseminate it to the communities and the loan clients they interface with.
She added that in case a client comes for a loan to invest in a project that harms the environment, they will advise them and give alternative projects that are less harmful.
"So if a client is for example into charcoal business which obviously harms the environment, there are other ways that these people can earn income without cutting down trees, we can give them other resourceful practices that don't harm the environment," she said.
aBi Finance Ltd, a leading player in promoting access to sustainable agribusiness finance in Uganda, in partnership with the Uganda Institute of Banking and Financial Services (UIBFS) is conducting 20 green finance capacity-building activations (training sessions) for Staff of Partner Financial Institutions.
This initiative aims to equip staff of partner financial institutions with the necessary knowledge on green finance which is needed to deal with the climate change challenges that are threatening agribusiness and the financial services sector.
Similar trainings have been held in Wakiso, Kampala, Mukono, Kabale, and Ntungamo.
"We believe that by training staff of financial institutions on green finance for investing in climate change adaptation, mitigation, and biodiversity conservation to attain sustainable development, we are equipping them to disseminate the same green financing information to fellow staff as well as their agribusiness loan clients across various branches country-wide," said Moses Bwire, Investments Manager - Green Growth and Business Development Services at aBi Finance.
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In addition to training staff, aBi Finance will work closely with partner financial institutions to develop green finance Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials, enhance the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies, green loan products and banking systems to better capture and report on green finance.
aBi Finance remains at the forefront of promoting sustainable growth and resilience in the agriculture sector. Recently, the organization unveiled the Green Finance Fund and Green Taxonomy, valued at shs120 billion, to further promote sustainable investment in the sector.
