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Summary article
Read a summary article from the event on our Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa website
Thursday 10 November 2022
14:30-15:40 EET
Location: COP27 venue, Blue Zone, Zone C, pavilion P90 + Online streaming
Co-organised by Nefco and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland
Agriculture, forestry and land use directly account for more than 22% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. Hence, new concrete GHG emission reduction practices targeted to the agriculture sector have a huge impact both regionally and globally. Productive use of energy in the agricultural sector is one of the areas particularly well aligned to be able to positively impact both climate and economic resilience, as well as being an instrument for fostering food security.
The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) is an innovative results-based financing instrument managed by Nefco to support modern and clean off-grid energy services in challenging rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa. The programme enables energy service providers (i.e. private companies) to deliver services at prices that are affordable to underserved customers in Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia. BGFA programme also supports the productive use of energy and refers to the use of applications or services that enable productivity increases or efficiency gains, which catalyse income increases and associated development impacts particularly in agriculture.
Catch the Carbon is a concrete example of a Nordic government funded initiative that has financed more than 100 innovation, research and development projects implemented in rural areas related to new climate solutions in the land use sector since 2020. The projects create new knowledge on climate-sustainable solutions for forestry and agriculture, engage stakeholders and actors in the land use sector as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance carbon sinks and reservoirs. The initiative is managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland.
Agenda
14:30-14:35: Opening words by Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Minister of International Development, Norway
14:35-14:45: Keynote speech by Amy Duchelle, Senior Forestry Officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
14:45-14:50: Climate solutions in land use sector, Lotta Heikkonen, Chief Climate Specialist, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland
14:50-14:55: Energising agriculture – a Uganda perspective, Joshua Kabugo, Digital and Energy finance Specialist, United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)
14:55-15:00: Energy access in rural Africa by Mukabanji Mutanuka, Head of Business Development, ENGIE Energy Access
15:00-15:40: Panel discussion and Q&A with Lotta Heikkonen, Chief Climate Specialist, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland, Stig Traavik, Director, Department for Climate and Environment, Norad, Mukabanji Mutanuka, Head of Business Development, ENGIE Energy Access, Russell Lyseight, Managing Director, VITALITE Zambia
Moderator: Ash Sharma, Vice President, Nefco
Speakers
Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Minister of International Development, Norway
Anne Beathe Tvinnereim is the deputy leader of the Centre Party. She has served as the County Councillor for Planning, Climate and Environment in the Viken County Council, State Secretary at the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, and Political Adviser at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. She has also previously worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norad and the think tank Agenda. Ms Tvinnereim comes from Halden, Norway, and has a degree in political science.
Amy Duchelle, Senior Forestry Officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
Amy Duchelle is a Senior Forestry Officer in the Forestry Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, Italy. She works with a diverse set of partners to protect and restore forests, and enhance the rights, livelihoods and adaptive capacities of local people. Amy came to FAO from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia where she led the Climate Change, Energy and Low Carbon Development Team, and before that was based in Brazil. She has extensive experience on forestry and climate change issues, including through her leadership of CIFOR’s Global Comparative Study on REDD+.
Lotta Heikkonen, Chief Climate Specialist, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland
Lotta Heikkonen works as Chief Climate Specialist in the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. She acts as the national desk officer for EU LULUCF regulation and leads the ministry’s climate team. Lotta has worked with national and international forest and natural resources policies at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry since 2015. Building on her professional and educational background, she has a broad perspective to EU climate policies from forestry and agriculture sector perspectives.
Joshua Kabugo, Digital and Energy finance Specialist, United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)
Joshua is a finance and business development professional with over fourteen years’ experience in investment across over 15 markets. Joshua is currently working with UNCDF as a Digital & Energy finance specialist focusing on providing innovative financing solutions to small and medium enterprises that do work across the key thematic areas of the United Nations. Before this role, he worked with SunFunder (now called Mirova SunFunder), Embark Energy, Bank of Africa Uganda and Standard Chartered Bank. He has also done a lot of consultancy work with The World Bank, Catalyst Off-grid advisors, UECCC, DAI Europe, Coffey, SunFunder LLC, Epsilon Energia, Challenges, among others. Joshua holds a BA and MBA from Makerere University in Uganda.
Mukabanji Mutanuka, Head of Business Development, ENGIE Energy Access
Mukabanji Mutanuka is a renewable energy and development economist with over 8 years extensive experience in the offgrid energy field. Based in Lusaka Zambia, she is responsible for Business Development of Minigrid innovations across Southern African. Prior to this, she has been responsible for the technical, financial and environmental design and development of off grid innovations in Zambia under the White House Led initiative-Power Africa Offgrid Energy Challenge, where she had direct oversight of development and risk management of a solar micro grid, micro-hybrid systems and distribution of solar home systems. She has recently assisted in consultancy work in the off-grid sector under the EU and is a Board Member of Zambia Renewable Energy Association(ZARENA), and the African Minigirds Developers Association (AMDA).
Stig Traavik, Director, Department for Climate and Environment, Norad
Stig Traavik is Director of Climate & Environment in Norad – the Norwegian Govt Agency for Development Cooperation. He is a former Ambassador to Indonesia, and has more than 25 years of international diplomatic experience in Indonesia, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, and the UN/WTO. He was a Special Envoy for Norway’s International Forest and Climate initiative from 2018-2020. He has also worked in Venture Capital in South East Asia. He is a six time national judo champion, and represented Norway in the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992.
Russell Lyseight, Managing Director, VITALITE Zambia
Russell is the Managing Director at VITALITE Zambia. In addition to his four year stint at Vitalite, he has over fifteen years’ multidisciplinary experience in the UK financial services industry, supported by experience gained in voluntary Board appointments with three UK-based Not-for Profit Organisations in the Health and Education Sector. His skills cover Governance, Banking, Project Management and Business Transformation. Building on a Bachelor of Science in Financial Economics awarded in 1997, he later earned an MBS in 2021.
Ash Sharma, Vice President, Nefco
Ash Sharma, Vice President of Special Funds at Nefco, is a climate, environmental finance, policy and investment specialist with over 30 years of experience in over 60 countries, with a current focus on Africa. Sharma has served on various international climate change steering and working groups for Nordic Council of Ministers, UNEP, World Bank, G8 and G20 and has been an adviser to the European Commission, Innovate UK and the Climate Policy Initiative.
Event partners
This event is organised in collaboration with Nefco and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland
Contacts
Lia Oker-Blom
Senior Communications Officer