BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 18. Azerbaijani banks should allocate about $17.6 billion to green finance over the next 36 years, the President of the Azerbaijan Banks Association (ABA) Zakir Nuriyev said at the forum titled “Green finance and sustainable development” in Baku today, Trend reports.
Nuriyev reminded that under the World Bank's Climate and Development Report, about $44 billion of investments will be required for Azerbaijan to significantly reduce carbon emissions by 2060.
He noted that a significant part of these investments can be provided through the participation of the private sector as well as the banking sector - 60 percent of investments should come from the government and public organizations, and the remaining 40 percent can be financed by banks.
"To surmount these challenges, it is necessary to support the attraction of investment from both the public and private sectors. Cooperation with public and international financial institutions, as well as with foreign investors, should be strengthened. Banks should provide green loans and other climate finance instruments. Public-private partnerships for green finance must expand, and banks must support the market with green loans and sustainable financial instruments. Banks should put about $17.6 billion into green finance over the next 36 years. That is to say, in the next period, our banking sector should allocate funds equivalent to the current size of its loan book exclusively to green projects - this is a major challenge,” he said.