New York, 18 September - Global leaders and influential figures converged on the margins of the 78^th United Nations General Assembly to address the pressing climate crisis and call for an urgent increase in green investments. The high-level event “Scaling Up Green Investments To Address Climate Change”, hosted by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), mobilized financial commitments for green and sustainable projects and showcased public private partnerships, innovative approaches, knowledge exchange and policy changes that can incentivize green investments. 

“Africa is rich in green resources that can power accelerated sustainable development. This event is critical to foster Green investments in innovations and climate-smart projects in Africa, which are key to spark deep transformations and a better future for all in Africa and beyond” said Ahunna Eziakonwa, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Bureau for Africa Director

The high level panel united institutional leaders, private sector entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and experts to boost joint actions towards climate-smart agriculture and better food systems in Africa. "Ensuring funding availability through the insurance market is crucial,” said Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, the United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Director General of the African Risk Capacity Group”, who also pointed out the main challenge that lies in the Triple A of insurance: affordability, availability, and accessibility of premium financing. “Disaster management is often not integrated into the public policies of many African governments. It is imperative that we prioritize a culture of contingency planning within climate resilience investments to enable African governments to proactively anticipate and respond effectively.”

Speakers from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank and the Institutional Investor Network (IIN) underscored the importance of fostering coordinated dialogues among a broad spectrum of stakeholders, all striving for a collaborative response to the climate crisis.

“As the Global Stocktake concluded, the solutions to address the Climate Crisis are here – but their implementation needs to be scaled up massively, urgently. That requires scaling up green investment in a just energy transition as well as low-carbon economic development,” Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Director-General of GGGI said. “Smart financial solutions, from blended finance, leveraging climate finance with public private partnerships, debt for nature and climate swaps, green, sustainable, blue or resilience bonds – together we can scale up green investments to address the climate crisis and create green jobs for vulnerable populations, particularly women and youth,” Dr. Rijsberman added.

This high-level UNGA 78 side event was co-organized by GGGI, UNDP, the World Bank, AfriCatalyst and the Institutional Investor Network.

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For more information and interviews, please contact:

Eve Sabbagh, Strategic Communications Specialist, UNDP, eve.sabbagh@undp.org, +1 484 904 5730

Mona Laczo, Head of Communication and Knowledge Sharing, GGGI mona.laczo@gggi.org

About the Organizers:

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization with 47 Members dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies.  With operations in over 40 countries, GGGI serves the role of an enabler and facilitator of Members’ transition into a low-carbon green economy. Further information on GGGI’s events, projects and publications can be found on www.gggi.org.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, it helps nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet. Learn more at www.undp.org/africa or follow @undpafrica on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.