Tonga's private sector looks at Green Climate Fund opportunities [1]
Tuesday, November 2, 2021 - 19:27. Updated on Wednesday, November 3, 2021 - 08:54.
A fund of USD$302,281 from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), approved for Tonga's Private Sector Readiness Programme, will help to build capacity within the private sector, mainly among micro, small and medium enterprises, to access GCF funds.
“This is a priority for the Govt. of Tonga that seeks greater private sector interventions,” local business people were told at a workshop in Nuku'alofa last week.
The Tonga Chamber of Commerce and Industries held the workshop called ‘Enabling Private Sector Access to Climate Finance, to strengthen Climate Resilience Development in Tonga’, at the Ancient Tonga venue, at Fangaloto on Friday 29 October.
TCCI President Paula Taumoepeau and Vice President Samuel Vea, said that the objective of the workshop was to educate the private sector on how to access the fund for climate resilience projects.
Tonga is highly susceptible to a wide range of climate change impacts, including increasingly intense tropical cyclones, extreme rainfall events leading to flooding, coastal erosion, heat waves, drought, ocean acidification, sea level rise and natural hazards, the workshop was told.
“The private sector in Tonga is becoming increasingly aware of the threats posed by climate change but less informed about the impending risks and opportunities that climate change can present.
“This is primarily due to the lack of information or data on climate risks accessible to the private sector,” the workshop was told.
The TCCI Project Management Unit will be working helping to build more awareness on the GCF processes and accessing GCF resources.
The Project Management Unit PMU officially commenced its operation on 9 August 2021 and will be in operation for two years.
For funding to be approved for a private sector readiness project it has to go through a few stages of approval, before the final approval is made by the government.
The Green Climate Fund of $10.3 Billion is the world’s largest climate fund, mandated to support developing countries raise and realize their Nationally Determined Contributions towards low-emissions, climate-resilient pathways.
Tonga is among the 197 members of the Paris Agreement that was signed in Paris on 12 December 2015.
The aim of the Paris Agreement is to keep global temperature rise this century below 2 degrees Celsius, and to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Tonga Chamber of Commerce and Industry TCCI is the Executing Agency of the Green Climate Fund GCF allocation for Tonga of USD$302,281.
The members of the Project Management Unit are: Program Manager, Carrie Vaea; Project Development Officer, Malini Teulilo; Communication Officer, Ogolotse Ntwaagae and Finance and Administration officer, Pohiva Malu.