Building climate resilience is especially urgent for the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the Pacific as they are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In light of this pressing necessity, a joint AIT-MOEJ-IRENA five-day training programme to support renewable energy deployment through developing project proposals to access climate finance was held in Tokyo and Kobe from 23-27 October 2017. National Designated Authorities, Accredited Entities, and project developers from Fiji, Maldives, Mozambique, Palau, and Samoa brought renewable energy project ideas to Japan and went home with an initial draft concept note for the Green Climate Fund.
The intensive hands-on training was led by the trainer Mr. Juerg Klarer and provided the platform for participants to start moving from project ideas to GCF concept notes.
“Additionality and substance! Two wonderful words. I learned to speak the language of the Green Climate Fund” said Chief Engineer Mau Simanu who is responsible for building many of the Renewable Energy installations in Samoa.
Picture: Attendees also participated on
a field trip to Awaji Wind Farm
The training programme was also fortunate to have three representatives from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Secretariat. Mr. Urvaksh Patel and Mr. Alastair Morrison gave a comprehensive overview of GCF’s operational policies and enlightened everyone on the meaning of Paradigm Shift and investments for transformational impact. Mr. Adria Llach presented GCF’s project cycle in detail and worked side by side with participants in group exercises throughout the training programme.
Moving Forward
The above-mentioned training programme represents only one of the various efforts that RRC.AP has undertaken since 2015 to support SIDS. Using a combination of practical hands-on training and tailored technical and policy advice, to date we have supported 13 Small Island Developing States to advance climate action. Two more training programmes will also be offered by the end of this year; a course on Mainstreaming Gender Considerations in Climate Change Adaptation Projects will be held in Bangkok on 4-8 December 2017, and another on Accelerating Renewable Energy Deployment in Small Island Developing States will take place in Suva, Fiji on 13-15 December 2017.
To learn more about our previous and upcoming work in the Pacific, click here.