COP 29

The Mastercard Foundation Fund for Resilience and Prosperity recently participated in COP29 within the Blue and Green Zones hosted by UNFCCC as well as the Climate Action Innovation Zone hosted by Climate Action. The events took place between 11 and 17 November in Baku, Azerbaijan and allowed partners to engage with influential decision-makers and establish connections and partnerships that drive sustainability initiatives forward, through thought leadership, exhibition, facilitated meetings, and vast exclusive networking opportunities.

The events provided an opportunity to amplify the objectives of the Fund for Resilience and Prosperity (FRP) within the climate impact space with key industry players at the global level. It also enabled FRP to raise awareness on the Climate Impact challenge fund with prospective stakeholders.

The Fund Engagement Partner, Smita Sanghrajka was a panelist at the UNCDF/UNDP pavilion in the Blue Zone in a panel titled ‘Leveraging Climate Finance for Sustainable Food Systems’. The panel highlighted how adaptation finance, risk sharing, and innovation are closing funding gaps for sustainable food systems. Smita noted that innovative financial strategies and partnership models that catalyse private sector engagement can effectively scale climate-resilient food systems in Africa. Through its four interventions, the Fund will provide access to finance and markets, capacity building including investor readiness, as well as a platform for systemic change for SMEs in the food systems space enhancing their climate resilience.

The Fund Program Partner, Grace Mberia was a panelist at the Africa pavilion in the Blue Zone in a panel titled ‘Private Sector Mobilization Through Innovative Mechanisms to Unlock Climate Finance.’ The panel highlighted mechanisms that can be used to catalyse the flow of climate finance to adaptation initiatives in Africa. Grace noted that one way to increase the flow of climate finance to SMEs implementing adaptation initiatives is by considering climate impact as a co-benefit to the objectives of investors. For instance, the Mastercard Foundation Fund for Resilience and Prosperity's main objective is to support moderate to high growth potential SMEs to unlock enterprise growth and create work opportunities for young women and men. By having climate impact as one of the sectors of focus, there will be an inherent co-benefit of climate resilience for SMEs in Africa. Grace also had a speaking session at the East Africa Community (EAC) pavilion where she explained the Fund approach and interventions in support of SMEs creating work opportunities for young women and men with limited financial means.

The Fund Grants and Climate Impact Manager, Winfred Kinuthia was part of a dialogue at the Climate Action Innovation zone which discussed unlocking a sustainable solution for the global South. She noted that  the African continent is vulnerable to climate change as evidenced by the flooding and drought experienced across the continent. These natural disasters have slowed down and even negated Africa’s economic and social development gains. On the upside, there is an opportunity for Africa to follow a green growth trajectory, developing new industries and technologies as well as new jobs. Winfred also had an interview within the innovation zone where she highlighted that Africa’s green economy is projected to create upwards of 100 billion jobs by 2050.  As such Mastercard Foundation Fund for Resilience and Prosperity’s Climate Impact Challenge Fund seeks to support SMEs in the climate impact sector to create work opportunities for young women and men with limited financial means.

The Fund team also attended other sessions within the blue zone, green zone and the climate action innovation zone. The sessions covered various subjects around innovative climate finance mechanisms, climate and food systems, the role of SMEs in the climate impact space and the role of young women and men in the climate conservation. The team was able to network with various stakeholders and share information on the objectives of the Fund for Resilience and Prosperity with a focus on the Climate Impact challenge fund. At the Climate Action Innovation Zone, the Fund team also managed an exhibition stand where they shared information with interested potential stakeholders about the Fund, including its, objectives, focus sectors and countries. This also further provided an opportunity to interact with key players in the climate impact space, agriculture, digital economy and health  who will form prospective participants as well as connect and technical assistance partners.

COP 29 provided an opportunity to amplify the objectives of the Fund with a focus on the climate impact challenge with key industry players at the global level. The Fund team used the various speaking opportunities to announce that the climate impact challenge fund would be opening for applications from January 2025 as well as populating the fund database of prospective participants, connect partners and technical assistance service providers who will be engaged at different phases of implementation and along the Fund journey.