Ammon News - On September 27, the Ministry of Environment in partnership with GGGI hosted its first quarterly GCF Readiness Private Sector Roundtable to discuss the role of the private sector in NDA-Direct Access Entity and Accredited Entity-GCF partnership, identify barriers to increasing climate finance in Jordan, and capacity needs in project development and financing. The event was a half-day constructive dialogue in which the GGGI team highlighted the five key themes raised by the private sector in a questionnaire distributed to key stakeholders in Jordan in advance of the roundtable. The respondents noted that their areas of focus were:

Lack of consistent message from various government entities in the energy sector;
Lack of coordinated effort, cohesive, and inclusive vision across ministries;
Lack of financial incentives for climate action/investment;
Bureaucratic procedures leading to bottlenecks; and
Needs for technical and financial assistance for adaptation and mitigation measures.

The dialogue was facilitated in Arabic by Ms. Hala Al-Hamawi, Accreditation and Compliance Specialist for the GGGI Jordan GCF Readiness project. It was attended by the Secretary General, Dr. Mohammed Khashashaneh, Director of Climate Change, Eng. Belal Shqarin of the Ministry of Environment, the National Designated Authority to the GCF in Jordan in addition to representatives from other key ministries. Ms. Krystle Cooper, Senior Climate Finance Officer and GCF Readiness project manager for GGGI was also in attendance along with private sector representatives of clean energy, auto, and agri-processing industries among others.

The discussion presented an opportunity for the government and private sector to have an open and honest dialogue about the challenges and needs of businesses to support and increase investment in climate actions in Jordan. The NDA via support from the GCF Readiness project is eager to continue the quarterly engagements with the private sector at the sectorial level to allow for deeper discussion on specific issues and recommendations. The GGGI team will prepare a recommendations report in the coming days to disseminate to attendees and guide the NDA in future climate policy making.

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