(Ecofin Agency) - The Sustainable Development Goals Fund (SDG Fund) has approved a $45 million vehicle to help Zimbabwe implement renewable energy projects. The SDG Fund will provide $10 million and the remaining amount will come from the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) and local partners.

“The 4-year program, which is expected to kick-off in April 2022, was jointly developed by UNESCO (Lead agency), UNWOMEN, UNDP, and the Government of Zimbabwe. It aims to leverage private investments to support Renewable Energy-based projects for the achievement of the SDGs in Zimbabwe. This program will innovatively target Sustainable Development Goals 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, and 17, whilst harnessing the cross-cutting nature of these goals to achieve the rest of the SDGs,” an official UN statement reads.

In recent years, Zimbabwe has multiplied initiatives to become an eco-friendly country. During the COP26, President Emmerson Mnangagwa recalled that “Zimbabwe has revised its Nationally Determined Contributions and committed to a ‘conditional 40% per capita greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, by 2030.”

According to the UN statement, “the active involvement of the United Nations system and Old Mutual Investment Group will provide credibility and a ‘halo effect’ thereby providing a wider stage and audience for the Fund’s activities.”