Govt. to seek foreign funding for green bond

The government plans to initiate talks with foreign parties to obtain green bond financing facilities to fund green ongoing projects, to meet the country’s climate commitments and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
“I propose to encourage state as well as private sector banks to develop this type of financing facilities,” Finance Minister Basil Rajapakse said, delivering his maiden budget speech in Parliament yesterday.

He stressed that global collaboration is a must to find sustainable solutions to global issues such as climate change.

“These cannot be solved only through domestic measures. These require collaborations internationally. Local and international interventions are being looked at. We must also be a partner in these ventures,” he said.

In particular, he highlighted the prospects in renewable and clean energies for the country in building the envisaged green economy as well as future possibilities in exporting green hydrogen.

“The potential to generate electricity from renewable sources such as wind, ocean waves and solar exceeds Sri Lanka’s energy requirement. As such, Sri Lanka has the opportunity to produce and export green hydrogen from the surplus of renewable energy,” he added.

Further, he pointed out that electricity-fuelled renewable energies are required to reap the benefits of electric three-wheelers and motorcars. He noted that the government has been focusing on electric three-wheelers and motorcars, which could also reduce the country’s fuel import bill.

In the 2022 budget, it was proposed to allocate an additional Rs.500 million for the facilitation of encouraging private investment in the renewable energy sector, in order to fulfil 70 percent of the aggregate electricity demand through renewable energy by 2030.