Innovative climate solutions increased resilience and improved livelihoods in 2019

September 24, 2020

Innovative climate solutions increased resilience and improved livelihoods in 2019

The Nordic Climate Facility’s (NCF’s) newly-published Results Report 2019 shows positive climate change and development results from grant-financed activities last year.

The Nordic Climate Facility’s (NCF’s) active portfolio supported 13,500 people in 2019: 6,500 with increased resilience to climate change and 7,500 with improved livelihoods, as well as 460 reported new jobs.

In 2019, seven NCF-financed projects were fully completed. The cross-cutting outcomes of these projects include enhanced income opportunities and the empowerment of women. Value chain development for products such as coffee and non-timber forest products, as well as renewable energy have become sources of income to several communities. Through the implemented projects, women now participate in decision-making processes to a higher degree, have enhanced their positions in their communities and show strengthened self-esteem. A driving force for these positive outcomes has been women’s increased capacity to organise themselves, their participation in income-generating activities, and taking on the role as income-generators in their families.

“We are planting more trees, keeping livestock out of the forest, guarding the forest and at the same time generating income. Some of us have also installed biogas plants and even from that we can make money. We are now members of independent women’s groups. We can talk with other community members and local authorities, and have secured our rights,” say Bimala Sinjali and Chandra Kumari GC, members of a women’s group in one of the completed projects in rural Nepal.

During their lifetime, the seven completed projects resulted in a total of 27,000 beneficiaries and 18,000 people with increased climate resilience. In addition, 3,000 people improved their livelihoods and 1,300 new jobs were created. More than 50% of the beneficiaries were women. In addition, as a result of these projects, an estimated 55,000 tonnes of CO2e emissions were reduced or avoided on an annual basis, which is the equivalent of 44,800 people flying from Helsinki to Paris and back.

In terms of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the active project portfolio’s focus in 2019 was on enhancing the global partnership for sustainable development, building knowledge and capacity to meet climate change, strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related disasters, building resilience to environmental, economic and social disasters, and providing universal access to modern energy.

Read the full NCF Results Report 2019 here.

The Nordic Climate Facility is a challenge fund set up by the Nordic Development Fund in 2009 to finance early-stage innovative climate change projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. NCF aims to build a portfolio of innovative green business concepts, which have been tested, proven viable and are ready to be scaled-up and replicated.

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