Technical Support to the West African Development Bank Strategy on Environment and Climate

The eight member states of the West African Monetary and Economic Union (known under the French acronym UEMOA) face serious challenges in responding to climate change, notably in mobilizing the necessary financing to implement climate plans and projects. The West African Development Bank has been concerned about tackling climate change for more than a decade and is receiving support from the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) to support the implementation of the bank’s strategy on environment and climate and strengthen its capacity to mobilize and deploy finance to support the transition to low carbon and resilient economies in the region. As such, Econoler was mandated to achieve the following objectives:

• Strengthening the strategic approach of the bank on climate finance and related procedures and tools;
• Structuring a pipeline of bankable climate projects that could be financed by the bank;
• Promoting climate finance in the UEMOA region and developing partnerships tor better align financial flows with the goals of the Paris Agreement.  

Econoler, as a member of the consortium, is responsible for the delivery of the following components:

• Strengthening the bank’s strategy on mainstreaming gender in its climate finance activities;
• Developing a pipeline of bankable climate projects for Togo and Benin and making recommendations to support project developers;
• Structuring a technical assistance facility to support project developers in securing climate finance from both the bank and international donors.

This project is aimed at strengthening West African Development Bank activities on climate finance and enable countries to participate in regional climate finance initiatives through the bank.