Climate change is a complex, cross-cutting issue combining adaptation, mitigation and environmental concerns with development efforts. This presents a coordination challenge in the need for various ministries, departments, agencies and non-governmental stakeholders to jointly develop programmes and projects.
Meanwhile, climate change, rapid population growth and urbanization are putting a strain on Rwanda and pose serious risks for the future. Rwanda needs to invest an estimated US$50–300 million per year in adaptation – or more than US$600 million, if social protection and accelerated development are included.
Delivering the climate change mitigation and adaptation actions depends on the availability of funding. Many of the national climate plans, the Nationally Determined Contributions, have goals that are conditional on external funding. Rwanda is in a good position to attract bilateral and international climate finance. Recent successes in securing climate finance from the different climate funds including Adaptation Fund (AF), Least Developed Countries’ Fund (LDCF) and Green Climate Fund (GCF) highlight the opportunities.
Climate Finance refers to local, national or transnational financing—drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change. Climate finance is needed for mitigation, because large-scale investments are required to significantly reduce emissions. Climate finance is equally important for adaptation, as significant financial resources are needed to adapt to the adverse effects and reduce the impacts of a changing climate.
In 2015, REMA was nominated by MINECOFIN to serve as National Designated Authority (NDA) for engagement with the Green Climate Fund. Since then, a lot was achieved including:
Being a NDA, REMA ensures the overall coordination of GCF activities in Rwanda by providing strategic oversight with support of the NCT. REMA is in charge of providing No-Objections for all projects before they are sent to the GCF for funding to ensure those projects/programs are well aligned with country priorities.
REMA is again an operational focal point of the Global Environment Facility in charge of ensuring that Projects to be submitted to the GEF are well aligned with country priorities. So far, more that USD 81M have been mobilized from the GEF for implementing National Projects.
REMA is eager to contribute fully to other major means through which the additional funds could be obtained, inter alia, national budget, dedicated funding from bilateral and multilateral sources, private sector finance, carbon markets, payment for ecosystem services (PES) among others, funding needs out-way available financial resources.