Sunday Ehigiator

LAPO Microfinance Bank, has reaffirmed its commitment to promoting inclusive growth and climate resilience through sustainable finance.

The bank made this known during the second edition of its Sustainable Finance Conference, held over the weekend, with the theme, ‘Microfinance for Climate Resilience: Empowering Communities, Driving Innovation, Shaping Policy.’

Speaking at the event, Managing Director of LAPO Microfinance Bank, Cynthia Ikponmwosa, said the bank began exploring sustainable financing as far back as 2012, recognising the need to support clean energy and environmental adaptation at the grassroots level.

“We started by providing loans that enable people to purchase solar products and home solar systems,” she said. “That was our entry point into supporting clean energy adoption, and we’ve been doing that for quite some time.”

In his keynote address, Professor of Strategic Management at Lagos Business School (LBS), Professor Franklin Ngwu, defined climate finance as funding that helps societies reduce or adapt to the effects of climate change.

He underscored the urgent need for increased resources to meet Africa’s growing climate demands, warning that the continent faces an enormous funding gap.

“Africa needs over $300 billion annually to tackle its climate challenges,” Ngwu said. “Over ten years, that’s about $2.5 trillion, but we currently get just one per cent of that, meaning 99 per cent remains unfunded.”

He noted that Africa’s climate-related economic losses already range between $289 billion and $440 billion, citing droughts in East Africa, floods in the West, and rising temperatures in the North as clear signs of escalating impact.

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