Staff Writer
The Bank of Namibia is advancing a national diagnostic study to assess the availability, quality, consistency and accessibility of climate-related data.
The study aims to identify existing gaps and strengthen the financial sector’s understanding of where climate-related risks are concentrated across geographic areas and economic sectors, as well as how these exposures may evolve over time, with the ultimate aim of mitigating climate change through adaptation and resilient measures.
Leonie Dunn, deputy governor of the Bank of Namibia and chairperson of the Namibia Sustainable Finance Alliance (NSFA) said ultimately the data will provide a stronger foundation for the sector to identify, assess, manage, measure, and disclose climate-related risks with greater consistency, quality, and comparability.
Dunn said the mobilisation of sustainable finance requires more than the availability of capital, noting that it also depends on an enabling institutional and policy environment.
NSFA, in collaboration with the Bank of Namibia and RMB Namibia, convened the first workshop on sustainable finance this week.
The workshop, held under the theme, “Where the System Is Breaking Down: Gaps and Constraints” brought together representatives from the banking and non-banking financial sectors, development finance institutions and development partners to examine the principal constraints affecting the mobilisation and deployment of sustainable finance in Namibia.
The workshop focused specifically on climate finance, including finance for climate-change mitigation and adaptation, as well as biodiversity finance and was structured as a practical exchange through which participating institutions could assess existing initiatives, identify barriers within their respective areas of responsibility and consider opportunities for cooperation.
The workshop follows a curtain-raiser held in March of this year that initiated a broader assessment of Namibia’s sustainable finance landscape.
The curtain raiser surfaced several recurring constraints, which included fragmented and insufficient data, limited technical capacity, uncertainty regarding definitions and classification systems, weaknesses in the project-development pipeline, and the need for clearer incentives and more effective coordination.
Moreover, the participants highlighted Namibia’s strategic advantages, including its natural-resource endowment, relatively developed financial sector, established access to
international climate funds and potential to link climate resilience with broader development objectives.
Amongst others, the opportunities identified included blended finance to de-risk private investment, adaptation finance to strengthen resilience, climate-risk insurance for vulnerable sectors, carbon finance linked to rangeland restoration and green industry, and conservation-finance instruments such as payments for ecosystem services and biodiversity credits.
The NSFA is a voluntary, multi-stakeholder platform through which 16 regulators, financial institutions, industry associations and government agencies coordinate efforts to mainstream and champion sustainable finance across Namibia’s financial system, facilitate knowledge-sharing and capacity-building, and support the country’s climate adaptation and resilience goals.
