Broad NDF climate investments in Latin America
The Nordic Development Fund is currently financing 12 climate change projects in the Latin American region, the five newest ones approved during the December 2011 board meeting. The red line in NDF’s investments is support to increase energy efficiency for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Here are some examples:
NDF is providing EUR 3 million for the second phase of the so-called GREENPYME programme, which aims to scale up energy efficiency measures and investments in SMEs through awareness raising, capacity building and financial support. The programme includes information dissemination, seminars, workshops and training targeted to SMEs, energy auditors, financiers and authorities. In phase two activites will be intensified in Honduras and Nicaragua, and expanded to two more countries: Bolivia and the Dominican Republic.
The Inter-American Investment Corporation, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is also a co-financier of GREENPYME.
Together with the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), NDF will provide a grant of EUR 1.5 million to the micro-finance programme, EcoMicro. One of the key objectives is to train micro-finance institutions to provide new green finance instruments in order to capitalise on new opportunities in clean energy financing, adjust their risk management models to climate change risk and incorporate climate impact into their internal policies and operations.
According to Leena Klossner, Deputy Director at NDF, EcoMicro is the first ever initiative aimed at bringing the microfinance industry into the climate change arena. She hopes it will hold lessons for other countries in Latin America, as well as other regions.
Another project that NDF is implementing together with MIF is the Biogas Market Development Programme in Nicaragua. It aims to develop a sustainable biogas industry in Nicaragua to help small agricultural producers and rural households to access renewable energy. The dairy sector has been selected as a market entry point to pilot the biogas potential.
NDF is providing EUR 1.5 million for the Geothermal Training Programme in Central America with another EUR 1.2 million in financing coming from IDB. Unlike solar, wind and hydro, the output of a geothermal plant is stable irrespective of weather conditions or time of the day. The idea is to increase the local knowledge and skills in specific aspects related to geothermal potential, exploration, planning and utilisation.
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