By Ezaruku Draku Franklin

Kampala, Uganda – The UK-Uganda green growth conference has opened opportunities for both Ugandan and British investors to invest in climate smart businesses to spur sustainable economic growth in Uganda. The two day virtual and in person conference took place last week, with the UK government committing to invest up to €39 million (Shs185billion) to spur climate smart economic growth and development in the country.

A number of UK based businesses also pledged to invest significant amounts of money in green economy across the country, creating opportunities for thousands of Ugandans both directly and indirectly.

Key on the priorities are climate finance, agribusiness, clean energy, clean infrastructure, and urban planning.

Kate Airey, the British High Commissioner to Uganda told the delegates during the conference that now is the time translate the paper agreements into action, which the UK governments are clear about. She said their commitments are more than words on a page and that British government will deliver on their promises.

“It is in all of our self-interest to do so – and to do so together. I am therefore pleased to announce that our first new overseas development aid programme after COP26 is a £39 million or 185 billion Uganda shilling investment over 4 years in Climate Smart Jobs,” she said

The investments will go towards growing climate smart agribusinesses to create jobs, providing loans and technical support directly to businesses to enable them to expand into large commercial operations able to access mainstream finance, be more resilient to climate change and increase incomes for over 300,000 households.

It will also support climate smart land management and services by protecting fragile biodiversity that surround agribusinesses and building climate services that require public investment delivering up to £94 million of benefit.

The British High Commissioner also said both Uganda and UK will work to remove barriers that stop businesses getting deals done and provide expertise to tackle the specific barriers that businesses say make trade and investment more challenging.

She said the COP26 presented a very good opportunity for the world leaders who made commitment to keep the goal of temperatures rising no more than 1.5 degrees alive.

She said while COP26 took great strides in progressing climate change initiatives at a global stage, she keen to ensure the benefits are realised in Uganda.  Currently Uganda is the 10th most vulnerable country to the impact of climate change. 

Data from the Ministry of Water and Environment indicates that climate change will cost Uganda between 3-5% of GDP per year by 2050 if no action is taken.

“If we are going to effectively tackle climate change, it will require every single person to make changes to the way we live and work. For the UK relationship with Uganda, this means us ensuring our economic partnership drives growth which is resilient and adapted to climate change impacts of today and tomorrow,” Kate said.

UK support to Uganda

Already tangible results are being seen in UK support Uganda in green recovery. Figures from the British High Commission in Kampala indicate that UK has assisted over 750,000 people to cope with the effects of climate change and delivered 6% of Uganda’s national electricity renewable supply through private investment. 

“We are investing in Lake Victoria Marine transport, Namanve industrial park, solar agricultural water pumping systems and electric bodas and we are always looking for the next opportunity to support business and communities adapt and innovate in a climate smart way,” Kate said.

She said access to climate finance is crucial for Uganda to succeed in its green growth trajectory. According to her, under the new UK and G7 initiative Build Back a Better World the UK is actively looking to expand and support Uganda to access the investment and build the infrastructure it needs to build green growth. 

“Given the hardships of the last two years, it could be tempting to consider investment options that delivers only short-term rewards. I would encourage decision makers in the private and public sector to consider Uganda’s long-term strategic goals when choosing investment partners. Our free, fair and honest trading relationship puts the UK in a strong place to help with this,” she said.

The chief British diplomat in Uganda said the UK is seeking more bankable opportunities to ensure that all UK investment vehicles see the huge opportunity in Uganda and that Uganda utilises the full UK blended finance offer and accesses this committed finance. 

“Beyond the UK I want to ensure that Uganda gets its fair share of the huge global climate finance commitments made at COP26 and that is why we are supporting the Ministry of Finance’s Climate Finance Unit as it leads the work as one of five climate taskforce pilot countries that will reshape the way that global climate finance reaches Uganda and countries like Uganda,” she said.

Uganda’s bilateral trade with the United Kingdom currently stands at £250m with the country investing up to £147million.

A number of UK companies have already set foot in Uganda, investing in green economy. Some of the companies include Nexus Green that is providing solar irrigation to farmers. The company is also set to construct solar factory in Kapeeka to manufacture high quality solar panels in Uganda. Others are, APTECH Africa that is also providing mobile solar irrigation facility to farmers,        Agrievolve Coffee in coffee sector and several others.

Matia Kasaija, Uganda’s minister of finance, planning and economic development told the delegates that climate change is no longer the responsibility of the future but a reality which must be confronted now. He said Uganda is vulnerable to climate change and that more action needs to be taken now before the situation worsens

“The country working on integrated climate change and green growth plan which will spur sustainable development in the country. As a government, we are committed to ensuring that resources are committed to putting in measures to mitigate impacts of climate change,” he said

“Uganda is vulnerable to climate change because most of its economic activities are related to green growth and therefore we need to have deliberate policies to make sure we address the causes and move to enjoy the benefits of climate smart green growth,” he added.

While Kasaija made bold statement in regards to climate financing, a report released by Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) an independent public policy research and advocacy think tank last year said the post Covid-19 recovery plan had only 28 percent of the national budget catering for natural capital sustainable recovery plan.

According to the report, the assessment of the financial year 2021/22 national budget revealed that only $3.36 billion (Shs11.9 trillion) representing 28 percent is responsive, to sustainable natural capital management and green growth, a decline from the USD 4.8Bn percent compliance score noted under the FY 2020/21 budget assessment.

Kasaija said the Covid-19 affected a number of people economically putting a lot of strain on the natural resources which must be reversed at this point. He said government recently launched a small business recovery support to help them recover from the adverse effects of the pandemic.

Janet Rogen, COP26 Regional ambassador for Middle East and Africa said Cop26 was not just an event but a continuous process that will continue to engage different actors and that Cop26 moved from the promises that the countries put in 2015 to the real implementation level, which means action.

She said while countries have the responsibilities of determining the national priorities, UK and other big global players have the responsibility to support those priorities.

“It is the job of the national governments to decide on their national priorities and it is the job our partners to come together and see how we can work in partnership,” she said.

She also said while Uganda and other countries were supposed to submit their Nationally Determined Contributions to the United Nations United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a number of them have not done so and asked Uganda to fulfill its part of the obligation.

“Uganda is not the only country that did not put in its NDCs, but now it is very important that all the countries that didn’t put in their NDCs to do so and I would ask the government of Ugandan to ensure that they submit their contribution so that it can be assessed and included in the UN framework papers,” she said.

Several other speaks from both Uganda and the UK made several pledges to increase investments in green economy.