Tonga’s Deputy Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni has commended the Global Climate Fund for decisions taken at its first board meeting in Samoa.
“The GCF Board has made remarkable progress in terms of granting approvals for country proposals and acknowledge their further decisions to impose conditions where they identified weaknesses,” Mr Sovaleni said.
The meeting helped to expose the vulnerabilities of the Pacific region to climate change to the global facility Directors and Tonga is grateful to the Prime Minister and Government of Samoa for their successful hosting the meeting.
The Board meeting also approved the Pacific Islands Renewable Energy Investment Programme for Cook Islands, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Samoa with various conditions to be addressed.
Whilst the approval was specific only for the Cook Islands battery storage of around $17 million, it also included $5 million to support the ADB as the accredited entity to build sustainable capacity of the seven Pacific countries to maximize gains from the renewable energy investments.
The ADB had also pledged $5 to assist complete feasibilities, design and develop robust implementation arrangements and monitoring framework for the Pacific Islands Renewable Energy Investment Program.
Tonga’s national project under this Program will be to support Tonga to achieve its Energy Target of 50 percent renewable energy by 2020.
Based on ADB’s appraisal, and confirmed in Apia, Tonga will be the next country to complete its national proposal including financing proposal, due diligence and feasibility studies to meet the Board’s imposed conditions aiming to table to the GCF Board in 2017.
An ADB mission is scheduled for early February 2017 to work on Tonga’s proposal.
During the three days meeting last week, Tonga’s delegation also met the GCF Secretariat, PIFS, PIDF, UNDP, New Zealand MFAT and SPREP to assist in formulating additional national projects in other sectors of Tonga’s National Determined Contributions to Climate Resilience including coastal and foreshore protection for Hihifo Tongatapu, Ha’apai and identified areas in Vava’u to ensure that raised proposals to the GCF are inline with its adopted mitigation and adaptation strategies.
A joint SPREP and UNDP mission to Tonga in January 2017 was also agreed to advance this request.
Mr Sovaleni also “welcomed the Board progressing discussions in other key concerns for developing countries and they include streamlining proposal approval process, strengthen staffing of the GCF Secretariat reach out to applicant countries and increased resources to country programming and readiness.”