As more governments acknowledge climate change risks, resilience budgeting is on the rise. For Africa’s red metal producer, Zambia a specific ministry of green and environment was established to drive the climate resilience sustainability agenda. During a 2022 budget presentation, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane acknowledged environmental sustainability as pivotal to the nations development agenda.
“Madam Speaker, we will also promote innovative financing for climate change interventions. This will be done through mechanisms such as the use of Green Bonds, promotion of carbon trading and putting in place legislation that establishes a National Climate Change Fund,” Dr. Musokotwane. Zambia will also review environmental impact assessment fee structure to ease cost of doing business aligned to international best practice.
The Southern African nation has seen players gear up for climate resilience through innovative offerings, the most recent being the $60 million (K1 billion) Kukula Capital SME green fund through collaborative partnership between the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Zambia’s largest bank by asset size Zanaco Plc. Other efforts towards environmental sustainability include the capital markets regulatory developments to ready green bond issuances.
Zambia’s MinFin has allocated K971 million ($57 million) towards environmental protection accounting for 0.6% of the fiscal budget and infinitesimal increase from previous years K956 million.
Zambia’s head of state will attend the United Nations Climate Change conference (COP26) in Glasgow United Kingdom at the invitation of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Kwacha Arbitrageur.