The new financing facility is mainly aimed at promoting innovative cooperation between Nordic organisations, companies and local stakeholders in the poorest developing countries. Starting this October, project proposals related to two areas; water resources and energy efficiency, can be submitted to NDF and NEFCO. The facility may approve 150,000-500,000 euros per project as grant financing for climate -related projects in the poorest countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
"What makes our new NCF initiative unique is that we have been able to gather Nordic specialists on development cooperation and environmental experts under the same roof. Our main objective is to promote the transfer of Nordic environmental technologies to developing countries and minimise the negative impact of climate change on the most vulnerable and poorest countries,” says NDF’s managing director, Helge Semb.
"The financing facility is mainly targeted towards Nordic organisations and companies with prior experience of initiating projects in developing countries. Our cooperation with the Nordic Development Fund enables us to broaden our business operations within this environmentally crucial area", says NEFCO’s managing director, Magnus Rystedt.
“A campaign to disseminate information about the new financing facility will be launched this autumn, and we are hoping to receive many relevant and well prepared proposals by the end of this year,” says NEFCO’s communications manager, Mikael Sjövall.
The Nordic Development Fund (NDF) is the joint development finance organization of the Nordic countries. Over the last 20 years the Fund has provided soft credits to developing countries. Starting in 2009 NDF will provide grant financing for climate-related interventions in the poorest countries in the world. www.ndf.fi
NEFCO is an international financial institution owned by the five Nordic countries. NEFCO finances investments and projects primarily in Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus, in order to generate positive environmental effects of interest to the Nordic region. NEFCO currently administers funds to a total value of 353 million euros. The climate related projects financed by NEFCO last year reduced the carbon dioxide emissions by 1.5 million tonnes. www.nefco.org
For more information:
Helge Semb, Managing Director, NDF (Helsinki), +358 10 618 002
Magnus Rystedt, Managing Director, NEFCO (Helsinki), +358 50 3296 224
Mikael Sjövall, Communications Manager, NEFCO (Copenhagen), +358 50 3535 045
