Press Release

Papua New Guinea Minister launches GGGI-PNG GCF Readiness Partnership

PORT MORESEBY – November 30, 2017—Honorable John Pundari, Minister for Environment and Climate Change of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (PNG), closed a two-day workshop on accessing climate finance today in Port Moresby. The workshop, hosted by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and PNG, highlighted the challenges and solutions to accessing climate finance.

The first day of the workshop featured speakers from a number of sectors and government departments across the country including the Department of National Planning and Monitoring, the Climate Change and Development Authority, the Office of Urbanization, and Water PNG Ltd. Each of the departments emphasized the policies, plans and strategies under their mandate as well as the climate challenges that they face and the pressing need to access climate finance to address those challenges.

Through interactive sessions and discussions, GGGI shared the background and mandate of the Institute as well as an overview of how GGGI engages with countries, tools used to identify high impact green growth interventions such as the Green Growth Potential Assessment (GGPA), and role of the Country Planning Framework (CPF) in implanting transformational green growth in-country. The day ended with an overview of the role of GGGI in supporting Papua New Guinea to access finance, especially from the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Facilitated by Margaret Kim, GGGI Green Growth Planning Specialist and Lead GCF Liaison, the second day of the workshop focused on the institutional, policy and regulatory barriers in accessing climate finance as well as the challenges that different sectors and institutions face in climate project preparation. Mr. Jonah Auka, Senior Adaptation Officer from the Climate Change Development Authority (the National Designated Authority, or NDA, to the GCF) ended the day by sharing the role of the NDA in PNG and explaining the readiness activities which PNG and GGGI have jointly applied for through the GCF.

The workshop was closed by Honorable John Pundari, Minister for Environment and Conservation. “The challenges of accessing climate finance for PNG and for the Pacific region are enormous. We are not new to these challenges,” said Minister Pundari. “We look to support from the Conference of the Parties and from strategic and resourceful partners to support Papua New Guinea going forward. Through GGGI’s help, we can find inroads to ensuring successful outcomes. We hope that this partnership with GGGI will help us meet our NDC targets as well as the Sustainable Development Goals.”

GGGI and PNG will begin implementation of the GCF readiness activities in early 2018. The purpose of the activities is to strengthen country capacity, engage stakeholders in consultative processes and mobilize the private sector. The two-day workshop in Port Moresby kicked-off this partnership and will pave the way for greater stakeholder collaboration and a whole of government approach to accessing climate finance.

About GGGI

Based in Seoul, GGGI is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization founded to support and promote green growth. The organization partners with countries to help them build economies that grow strongly, are more efficient and sustainable in the use of natural resources, less carbon intensive, and more resilient to climate change. GGGI works with countries around the world, building their capacity and working collaboratively on green growth policies that can impact the lives of millions. To learn more about GGGI, see https://gggi.org and visit us on Facebook and Twitter.