February 17 (SeeNews) - The UN Joint SDG Fund is providing $7.9 million (7 million euro) to North Macedonia to help it establish a $46.5 million Green Financing Facility (GFF), which will be supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the EBRD said.
The programme, aimed at combatting air pollution and climate change, will bring together United Nations (UN) organisations, North Macedonia's government, the EBRD and most of the country’s private banks, the EBRD said in a statement on Wednesday.
"This will be the first-ever cooperation of this nature between the EBRD and the UN system and it is a great honour for us that North Macedonia will be the pilot country for this cooperation," Andi Aranitasi, EBRD Head of North Macedonia, said in the statement.
The programme will set up a new affordable green financing vehicle for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individuals and households for investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions. It is expected to result in 70,068 MWh of annual energy savings, avoid 80,510 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions, and create 10.7 MW of new renewable energy capacity.
The GFF will be launched in the summer of 2022 and is expected to become fully operational by the end of the year.
The UN Joint SDG Fund is a multi-partner trust fund established by the UN General Assembly. The fund supports UN member states by de-risking investments that drive financing solutions to accelerate achievement of the SDGs. The goal of this fund is to disburse $1 billion in grants annually to 2030.
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