Supporting Climate Change Resilient Inrastructure Through Islamic Finance
Considering that many of ICIEC’s member countries are low-income and developing countries, they struggle to attract capital to mitigate or adapt to climate change, despite being some of the most vulnerable to its effects. As such, ICIEC understands its vital role in helping to drive investment into climate-resilient infrastructure in these member countries and is working consistently to improve its capacity as a climate finance provider. In addition to its covering of climate-resilient projects, ICIEC has begun building partnerships which will allow the Corporation to leverage its products more effectively and to crowd in private sector capital for climate related projects. The Corporation has also begun developing products tailored specifically for catalyzing investment towards climate-resilient projects.
Specifically, ICIEC introduced its Green Sukuk Insurance Policy, aimed at allowing Sukuk issuers to better attract capital for “green” projects. The product will be crucial for issuers in ICIEC’s vulnerable developing countries which may struggle with poor credit ratings. Fostering its climate finance partnerships, ICIEC signed an MoU with the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN), aimed at facilitating sustainable energy investment into Morocco. Finally, ICIEC built up its climate finance capacity by having its representatives attend events aimed at strengthening the renewable energy sector. To this end, ICIEC representatives attended the North African Renewable Energy Summit 2019 and the 5th International Renewable Energy Agency Policy Day. ICIEC will continue to work towards being a leader in the space of climate finance to help avert or mitigate the threats that climate change poses for its Member Countries.