More than $69million (USD$30.51m) will be channeled to Fiji in highly concessional capital via the multinational development partner-funded Climate Investment Fund (CIF) – to transform systems and enable the electricity grid to absorb and channel more clean power.
The CIF governing board has endorsed the Fiji Renewable Energy Investment (REI) Plan – to improve climate resilience of existing transmission networks, scale clean energy transmission solutions, enhance flexibility of energy systems, and finance other efforts to make integrating renewable energy flexible, and cost-efficient.
The REI Plan was presented to the Global Climate Action Programs (GCAP) Sub-Committee in Washington, US, on November 9 (2023) by Ministry of Finance, Strategic Planning, National Development and Statistics’ head of Strategic Planning Krishnan Gounder.
And in his submission, Mr Gounder said Fiji deserved a quantum of the CIF funds.
He said Fiji’s challenges were unique among other CIF members, like private sector interest in the Pacific, the nature of climate risks faced, and the existing share of clean energy already in place.
“Significant additional funding is required as the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of climate change on the severity and regularity of natural disasters, and the resulting permacrisis has left Fiji with elevated debt levels and heightened sensitivity to the pricing of financing options,” Mr Gounder said in a Government statement.
“Maintaining debt sustainability is critical for vulnerable countries, and for Fiji to continue on its development path while addressing climate adaptation and mitigation, access to larger volumes of concessional resources will be vital.”
The Climate Investment Funds – Renewable Energy Investments program is expected to mobilise more investments from governments, financial institutions, and the private sector, and actively support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.
The Climate Investment Funds – Renewable Energy Investment concessional resources will be blended with resources from multilateral development bank partners – Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank – and private investment to finance projects that will support Fiji’s Nationally Determined Contribution commitment to achieving net zero annual emissions by 2050.
“On behalf of the Government of Fiji, I would like to thank the Climate Investment Funds and the Global Climate Action Programs (GCAP) Committee Members for endorsing our Investment Plan, which aims to achieve Fiji’s long-term strategy on climate action and renewable energy integration,” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Strategic Planning, National Development & Statistics Biman Prasad said.
He said Fiji was highly vulnerable to tropical cyclones, floods, and other climate-related disasters which cause extensive damage to our infrastructure, affect livelihoods, and impose substantial financial bearing on Government’s balance sheet almost every year.
He added through the CIF Funds and identified project, they would address key challenges in Fiji’s energy sector modernisation, such as its dependence on expensive and volatile oil imports, as well as the need to provide affordable and reliable electricity access to rural communities.
The REI Plan was led by the Finance Ministry as technical coordinator, with contributions from the Climate Change Division of the Office of the Prime Minister.
