Fiji has undertaken a climate vulnerability assessment of the economic sectors most vulnerable to climate impacts in partnership with the World Bank. Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has revealed that a plan is laid out for climate-sensitizing Fijian Government’s development aspirations over the next ten years.
“This assessment is providing us with facts and hard evidence that is informing our climate-related expenditures and allowing us to craft a more ambitious and effective nationally determined contributions (NDC). We’ve also developed a NDC implementation roadmap, with the support of the Global Green Growth Institute. The roadmap is focused on electricity generation, transmissions and distribution, demand-side energy efficiency and energy efficiency in land and maritime transportation, all to support Fiji’s commitment to achieve 100 percent renewable energy and reduce CO2 emissions by 30 percent by the year 2030.” concluded Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
He said Fiji successfully launched the $F100 million Green Bond — the first in any emerging economy and the third ever in the world.
“The Green Bond proceeds are being used to finance climate adaptation and mitigation projects that are critical to achieving our NDC,” he said.
He added the Fiji Development Bank (FDB) had received Green Climate Fund accreditation and was looking to upscale its accreditation to assist investments throughout the Pacific.
“We are also pursuing innovative new partnerships, such as the proposed revolving fund for renewable electrification of communities in Fiji in partnership with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation,” he said.
He said under the project, communities that currently relied on fossil fuel or cannot be connected to the national grid in the medium to long term would gain access to reliable renewable energy. He also mentioned that Fiji was undertaking a review of its legal framework to make sure it was ready and able to support greater investment in key areas such as renewable energy and transportation in line with the NDC.
Original source: Fiji Times
Published on 13 March 2018
