The Nigeria’s N10.69 billion Sovereign Green Bond issued on Dec. 18, 2017, is the world’s first fully-certified sovereign green bond, UN Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has said.

Mohammed stated this on Monday, July 16, 2018 at the launch of a book: “‘From Summits to Solutions’: Innovations in Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals” at the UN headquarters in New York.

Green bonds, also known as climate bonds, are fixed income securities issued to finance projects that have positive impacts on the environment.

Nigeria was the first African country to issue a climate bond certified sovereign green bond, and world’s fourth sovereign issuer of green bonds

Mohammed, who is Nigeria’s immediate past Minister of Environment, is among the co-authors of the book’s 15 chapters, in conjunction with Simon Zadek, former co-director of UN Environment’s Inquiry on Sustainable Finance.

Chapter Three of the book entitled: “From Green Bonds to Sustainable Development: The Case of Nigeria”, was written by Mohammed, with Zadek, now of the UN Development Programme.

The chapter follows a unique narrative form in the book – it is told from the personal perspective of Mohammed, who served as Nigeria’s minister of the environment from November 2015 to February 2017.

In that role, the UN deputy chief collaborated with Zadek, and other colleagues to launch Nigeria’s first sovereign green bond, and they described many of the frontier issues tackled in that effort.

Their chapter offers a personal perspective on how Nigeria came to launch its first green bond as an innovative financing tool to tackle the country’s intersecting economic, social, environmental, and security challenges.

The UN deputy scribe said: “All the book’s authors deserve congratulations. Each chapter represents an important contribution to our thinking around capturing value, targeting places, and updating systems of governance.

“Let me also say how pleased I am that the volume’s opening contribution focuses on expanding women’s economic opportunities. It is important to remember women as an asset that are key to sustainable growth and development.

“The Nigerian Green Bond issuance experience is one such disruptive example.

“It is in fact the world’s first, fully-certified, Sovereign green bond, the topic of the essay I contributed to the volume launched here today, along with my co-author, Simon Zadek.

“Whilst the essay tells the fuller story, I want to highlight just a few points that I see as particularly salient to the sizeable challenge of realising the 2030 Agenda in a timely manner.

“Most directly, the green bond offered a new source of funds, front-loaded, to spend at the nexus between environmental protection, enterprise development (especially those that are women led) and Nigeria’s broader strategy of reducing its dependency on a fossil fuel intensive economy and contributing to its commitment in the Paris Agreement.

“The painful process helped us as a government to recognize our gaps and to take credit as sector for the hard-won agreement to have the Ministry of Finance ‘own’ the process and add the green bond to its balance sheet, was a means of engaging across the government in raising the importance of the nexus of green and economic success, and of strengthening the hand of the Ministry of Environment in cross-government strategic considerations and investments.

“More expansively, the process of developing and then issuing a green bond provided the opportunity for cross sector collaboration within government, opening partnerships and bringing awareness within the private financial community, including key capital market actors, of the opportunities that green investment present.

“In a nutshell, the green bond was a means of creating pathways towards the greater goal of engaging government and financial markets in the merits and opportunities associated with greening Nigeria’s economy, as well as being about raising some funds to invest in the here and now”.

Nigeria’s debut issuance of Green bonds was part of many efforts directed towards meeting its Paris Agreement on Climate Change’s Nationally Determined Contributions put at N142 billion by 2030.

The fully subscribed bond’s tenor is five years, and investors would receive a 13.48 per cent annual coupon, creating high expectations for the environmental projects linked to the government’s use of proceeds from the bond.

The UN deputy scribe said ‘Summits to Solutions’ provided cases we can learn from, not to replicate, but to draw insight as to how to advance practice in our own spheres of influence.

The launch of the book, edited by Raj Desai, Hiroshi Kato, Homi Kharas, and John McArthur, featured discourses by Deputy President of UN Foundation, Ms Elizabeth Cousens, ambassadors and representatives of Japan International Cooperation Agency and other UN partners.

By Prudence Arobani

Vast quantities of raw satellite imagery and data will be distilled into an online platform showing how water ecosystems have changed.

It will also depict how countries can manage them to prevent further loss, said Google and the UN.

Initially, it will focus on fresh water ecosystems such as rivers and forests.

Google will eventually produce geospatial maps and data for a publicly available platform to be launched in October 2018 in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

“It’s basically a time slide… you can go back in time, and what is does is show you where water has disappeared.

“It can show you where water never was and now is there. It can show you where water is seasonal,” said Elisabeth Mullin Bernhardt, a programme manager at UNEP, on Tuesday, July 17.

For Africa’s Lake Chad, for example, access to comprehensive data and images showing surrounding land and rivers could help explain why the lake, on which so many depend, “is drying up so quickly”, said Kenya-based Bernhardt.

Given that most countries share water sources, the information could also be used to encourage neighbouring nations to work together on strategies to manage rivers or lakes, she said.

Google is using artificial intelligence and cloud computing to process a massive amount of satellite imagery and data.

The data stretches back over three decades, before it can be analysed, said Rebecca Moore, Director of Google Earth and Earth Engine.

“Much of the world does not have access to good data about the state of their forests, their rivers and lakes and coastal eco-systems and how they have been changing over time.

“It’s a critically important time because there are dramatic changes going on, due to climate change and urbanisation and a number of factors that are in some cases significantly depleting fresh water supply,” Moore told the Media.

Improved information could lead to better investment in environmental services as countries try to meet their Sustainable Development Goals, said UNEP.

Agreed at the UN in 2015, the 17 global goals include targets to end poverty and hunger, combat climate change, and provide universal access to water and sanitation by 2030.

Governments are currently reviewing progress on the goals at UN headquarters in New York, where UNEP and Google announced the satellite initiative.

While researchers will focus on water ecosystems, the platform could be expanded to include issues such as desertification or plastics in the world’s oceans, said Bernhardt.

Passionate African journalists who are excited about the health of the planet, future generations and the global discourses around low-carbon, climate resilient and green economic development pathways have been called upon to apply for the 2018 version of the ACCER Awards contest.

The Nairobi, Kenya-based Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), organisers of the annual programme, disclosed that, besides improving capacity in reporting on environment and development issues, successful applicants can win prizes and secure an all-paid sponsorship to attend and cover the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland in December 2018.

“The ACCER Awards contest offers various opportunities for incentivizing journalists and training them on the salient issues at global stage,” said Dr Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of PACJA, adding that the theme, “Changing the Narrative on Environmental Challenges in Africa: the Case of Pollution”, would guide participants’ entries and awards based on how they demonstrate information delivery in specified categories.

He listed the categories to include: print, radio, television, photojournalism, and online (multi-media).

According to him, potential awardees are expected to present direct entries with brief citations demonstrating how their journalism may have practically enhanced access to information delivery in a specified area in either English or French.

Award selection criteria, he stressed, is based on: eligibility; originality, structure and quality of writing/broadcast, creativity (use of relevant interviews and examples to illustrate issues); variety of voices/quotes used; fluency (quality of the language- engaging writing/radio style, correct spelling and grammar); and, respect of the prescribed submission format.

The overall prize entails cash reward of $1000; full sponsorship (including return air ticket, accommodation and other living expenses) for UN Climate Change Conference from December 3 to 14, 2018 in Katowice, Poland; fellowship to participate in high-level reporting; and training throughout 2019 courtesy of ACCER Awards Partnership.

Interested applicants can get more information about the ACCER Awards and prizes here: http://www.pacja.org/2018-accer-awards-call-for-entries/