NABARD Inks USD 100 Million Pact with Green Climate Fund for Solar Rooftops

The USD 250 million project, to be executed by Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd, will receive the GCF support through NABARD, which is the National Implementing Entity (NIE).

Pushing for rooftop solar in India, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has signed an agreement with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to infuse $100 million into an ambitious project designed to unlock private sector initiatives for creation of rooftop solar power capacity across India. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of ongoing COP24 in Katowice, Poland.

According to the NABARD press release, “The USD 250 million project, to be executed by Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd, will receive the GCF support through NABARD, which is the National Implementing Entity (NIE) for the UNFCC-promoted Fund that supports the efforts of developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change.”

The agreement with GCF was signed by Shri Shankar A Pande, Chief General Manager, NABARD in the presence of Shri A K Mehta, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

India has an ambitious vision of creating 100 GW solar power capacities. NABARD has been financing solar power projects and installations in various other programs as well.

Earlier, the apex development bank held deliberations on financing climate resilient agriculture with global experts at the international climate change conference in a bid to showcase India’s commitment to fight climate change.

There was a consensus on the need for replication of NABARD’s initiatives like watershed development, tribal development through wadi (small orchard-based farming) to empower rural communities in the developing world against the climate crisis.

Apart from GCF, NABARD is the NIE for Adaptation Fund of UNFCC and National Adaption Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC) of GoI. These funding mechanisms are being used to aid the interventions of several state governments in the areas of water, irrigation, fisheries, dairy farming, renewables in agriculture, coastal ecosystem, etc.