BY MBONGENI NDLELA
MBABANE – Eswatini could be on the verge of creating a powerful environmental investment fund capable of mobilising billions of Emalangeni for solar energy, climate-smart agriculture, businesses and other sustainable development projects.
The ambitious plan gained momentum on Monday when Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini received a delegation from the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF), which is in the Kingdom to assess how the Eswatini Environment Fund can be transformed into a mega financing institution.
Cabinet has already approved the proposed transformation, paving the way for work towards establishing a stronger financing model capable of attracting substantial domestic and international investment.
The Namibian delegation, led by EIF Chief Executive Officer Benedict Libanda, presented Namibia’s experience in developing an environmental fund into a major financing institution that has mobilised approximately E27 billion for sustainable development.
For Eswatini, the visit provides an opportunity to learn from one of the region’s established climate-financing models and potentially create a funding vehicle capable of supporting projects that directly improve livelihoods, strengthen businesses and stimulate economic activity.
The Namibian fund has financed projects across several sectors, including sustainable agriculture, drought-resistant crops and livestock production, waste management, biodiversity conservation, renewable energy, marine projects and carbon markets.
Of particular interest to Eswatini is the manner in which the EIF works with commercial banks to reduce the risks associated with financing green projects.
Under such an arrangement, ordinary people and businesses seeking funding for viable sustainable-development projects are able to access financing through participating financial institutions, while the fund helps reduce the financial risk carried by lenders.
This could potentially open new funding avenues for emaSwati wanting to invest in solar energy, sustainable farming, recycling, waste management and other environmentally friendly enterprises.
E27 BILLION SUCCESS STORY
Libanda told the Prime Minister that the Namibian institution had, since its establishment, succeeded in mobilising approximately E27 billion for environmental and sustainable-development initiatives.
The figure provides a glimpse of the scale Eswatini could potentially pursue if the Eswatini Environment Fund is successfully transformed and positioned to attract international climate finance.
Namibia has also been selected among seven countries participating in the Climate Investment Funds’ US$1 billion Industry Decarbonization Programme, worth approximately E16.3 billion at recent exchange rates. The programme is designed to provide concessional financing to help developing economies reduce emissions from heavy industry.
Libanda further highlighted the potential for grant and concessional financing to be blended with credit facilities to stimulate investment by the private sector.
His delegation is now assessing Eswatini’s economic and environmental landscape to determine areas where a strengthened environmental fund could achieve the greatest impact.
Preliminary findings have already identified renewable energy, particularly solar power, as one of the Kingdom’s major opportunities.
The development could prove significant as Eswatini seeks to attract investment into domestic energy generation while simultaneously creating new opportunities for businesses and communities.
A well-capitalised environmental investment fund could potentially help finance household and commercial solar projects, renewable-energy businesses and larger developments aimed at strengthening the country’s energy security.
Beyond energy, such a fund could also channel investment into climate-smart farming, livestock projects, conservation, recycling, waste management and enterprises emerging from the growing green economy.
PM WANTS ESWATINI-SPECIFIC MODEL
Prime Minister Dlamini welcomed the experience and expertise shared by the Namibian delegation and expressed interest in seeing how lessons from Namibia could be adapted to Eswatini.
Rather than simply copying the Namibian structure, the Prime Minister wants a financing mechanism designed around Eswatini’s own economic and development circumstances.
He consequently requested a concept note outlining how the Kingdom could establish a similar model or develop a hybrid structure incorporating suitable elements from Namibia’s experience.
The concept note is expected to provide government with a clearer roadmap on how the existing Eswatini Environment Fund could be transformed into an institution with greater capacity to mobilise and manage large-scale financing.
The intervention could significantly change the role of the fund from primarily supporting environmental initiatives to becoming a strategic national financing institution connecting international climate finance with projects on the ground.
ESWATINI, NAMIBIA MOVE TOWARDS MOU
Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Jane Mkhonta-Simelane informed the Prime Minister that cooperation between the two countries was already advancing.
She revealed that the Eswatini Environment Fund and Namibia’s EIF were working on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at formalising and strengthening cooperation.
The agreement would create a platform for the two institutions to exchange expertise, strengthen institutional capacity and explore opportunities for mobilising climate and environmental financing.
Namibia’s EIF already has experience working within the international climate-finance architecture and is accredited by the Green Climate Fund, positioning its expertise as particularly valuable to Eswatini as the Kingdom strengthens its own financing structures.
For Eswatini, successfully transforming the Environment Fund could mean substantially more than financing conservation projects.
It could create a mechanism through which international climate money is converted into solar installations, productive farms, greener businesses, employment opportunities and stronger communities.
It could also enable the Kingdom to leverage relatively limited domestic resources to attract substantially larger amounts from development institutions, climate funds, commercial banks and private investors.
The model demonstrated by Namibia shows the potential scale.
With approximately E27 billion mobilised, the Namibian experience provides Eswatini with a regional example of how a dedicated environmental financing institution can become a major player in national development.
Cabinet’s approval of the transformation means the Kingdom has already taken the first policy step.
Attention will now turn to the assessment by the Namibian delegation, the proposed MoU and the concept note requested by Prime Minister Dlamini, which could ultimately lay the foundation for an Eswatini mega green fund capable of unlocking billions of Emalangeni for sustainable development.
Post Views: 30
