Bank of Zambia tasks financial institutions to support businesses promoting climate adaptation

Financial institutions have been encouraged to support Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) that are actively delivering biodiversity solutions and championing climate adaptation efforts across their value chains.

According to the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) Director Non-Bank Financial Services, Fredah Tamba, the financial institutions could do this by being more inclusive and innovative in their products to increase financial flows to the SMEs.

Tamba stressed the need to strengthen the resilience and adaptive capacity of MSMEs to climate change, while equipping them to improve the conservation, management of biodiversity and natural resources which support their livelihood.

She said at the practitioners labs- green finance for climate adaptation and biodiversity meeting in Lusaka on Wednesday that this would assist Zambia attain the middle income status by 2030.

“I wish to state that Zambia’s vision of attaining a prosperous middle income status by 2030 emphasises development that is anchored on sustainable environment, ecosystem and natural resource management principles.

“This means attainment of socio-economic development which meets the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” she said.

Achieving this, Tamba said, depended on a strong ecosystem of support from a variety of stakeholders including Government agencies , Central Banks, financial institutions and business development support services.

Tamba cited the BoZ green finance as one of the strategic initiatives which was being developed.

She said the central bank’s green finance initiatives were aligned with the national environmental policies and therefore encompass climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity and land conservation.

“This include the concept of inclusive green finance to build the collective resilience of individuals, households and MSMEs to the effects of climate change and supporting the financing of small businesses activities that are inclined towards climate change adaptation and mitigation and environmental protection among others,” she said.

Earlier, Women’s Entrepreneurship Access Centre (WEAC) Executive Director, Nambula Kachumi, said the organisation with its partner Adlephi was constantly iterating and adapting to more efficient ways of working with marginal groups in designing biodiversity solutions that reduce investor risks among others.

Kachumi said this would help to catalyse investments in biodiversity MSMs and alleviate socio-economic gaps as part of Zambia’s biodiversity and sustainable agenda.

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