This webinar was hosted by Trade and Industry Policy Strategies (TIPS) to discuss the role of Development Finance Institutions (DFI’s) in deploying financing to just transition projects. The webinar explores the activities and approaches adopted by European DFI which may be useful for South African DFI practitioners as they navigate the new terrain of just transition programming, as well as facilitating discussion of the role European DFIs can play in ensuring that South Africa’s transition to net zero is just.
Participants in the Panel
- Joanne Bate (Climate Finance Commissioner on the Presidential Climate Commission COO IDC)
- Louise Gardner (Working Group and Africa Director for Sustainable Banking Network IFC),
- Dr. Chantal Naidoo (Founder and Executive Director of Rabia Transitions) and
- Mattia Baldini (DEA and Nadege Hopman EIB).
The following key topics were covered in this discussion:
- Industry Planning
- Key Priorities
- Energy Transition in South Africa
- Coal Mines in Ukraine
- Role in the Green Finance Market
- Climate Risk management
Chantal’s perspective in this discussion focused on South Africa’s energy transition, some views on the characteristics of South Africa’s energy transition, DFI’s deeper role, and some context around the international DFI. She highlighted that in SA, there is certainly a spoken level of urgency, and some muted action and short-term policies are crowding and clouding the long-term shifts.
She further spoke about how the role of the DFI’s needs to be beyond the deployment of finance but focus more on being the champion and driver of a specific change. Speaking to the incentives of DFI’s, Chantal mentions that the capital structure of a country does really matter as it can advance or constrain the ability of the DFI’s to go further. She touched on the ability to design the financial instruments from an innovative perspective that is socially inclusive, therefore just financial structuring is also critical. The last aspect of the role that DFI’s can plan is around the origination of a just transition portfolio.
