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Int’l aid to tackle climate change
- Nepal selected for having mechanism in place
JUL 02 -
Nepal has been selected among six countries in the world to undertake pilot programme on scaling up renewable energy in low income countries (SREP) for the first time under multi-lateral development banks’ Climate Investment Funds (CIF).
Through Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) under the CIF, Nepal will get funding worth US$50 million (Rs. 3.71 billion approx.) from the CIF Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) to undertake a transformational programme for renewable energy development in the country. The decision was made at a meeting of the multilateral CIF governing bodies last week in Washington D.C.
A unique programme, SREP was launched at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen last December to support low-carbon and climate resilience development through scaled-up financing from the developed nations, which are responsible for global warming and climate change.
As part of the Copenhagen Accord, there is a proposal to raise $30 billion for fast-start finance until 2012, with $100 billion to be mobilised annually by 2020. A total of $6.1 billion has been committed by the developed nations till date under the long-term funding mechanisms. Prior to Copenhagen, pledged contributions to the SREP (equivalent in dollars in million) from the UK (82.4), Netherlands (81.8), Norway (26.5) and Switzerland (20) totalled $210.7 million where US Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a financial support of $50 million.
“It is a big opportunity for a developing country like Nepal to be a part of funding mechanisms under the CIF that would help the country in development and poverty reduction,” says Govinda Raj Pokharel, former executive director of Alternative Energy Promotion Center and a member of an independent expert group involved in selecting the countries. Out of the nine countries recommended by the expert group, six were selected for the SCF. Other five low-income countries are Ethiopia, Honduras, Kenya, Maldives and Mali, he said. There are 67 low-income countries listed under the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Pokharel said Nepal was selected for demonstrating that it has an established policy and regulatory background, long-term private sector involvement in renewable energy such as micro-hydro, solar energy and bio-gas. Meanwhile, extensive opportunities with small- and medium-scale hydro projects to provide power in rural areas with community-owned installations helped the country to be a recipient of the fund, he said.
Posted on: 2010-07-03 07:45
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