Projects

Our activities in Nigeria are part of the Global Project Sustainable Economic Transformation and Sustainable Finance.

Nigeria is a continental pioneer in sovereign green finance. The country issued Africa’s first Climate Bonds Certified sovereign green bond in 2017 and a second in 2019. Both were significantly oversubscribed and financed projects such as afforestation and clean energy.

In 2024, after an EU–Nigeria green bond roundtable in Abuja, the Ministry of Finance intends to issue its first international green bond with the support of GIZ as technical assistance partner in the context of the Global Green Bond Initiative.

Opportunities include strengthening market credibility through alignment with ICMA Green Bond Principles and GGBI criteria, mobilising international investors, and expanding pipelines linked to Nigeria’s NDCs and, where feasible, EU Global Gateway priorities. Key challenges include robust project evaluation and selection, transparent management of proceeds, timely allocation and impact reporting, and securing second-party verification to sustain investor confidence and meet evolving global best practices.

Our work in Nigeria supports the Government in re-entering the sovereign green bond market with an internationally aligned framework and a credible project pipeline. This helps catalyse climate-aligned public investment. The interventions align with Nigeria’s sustainability strategies, NDCs, and the EU Global Gateway, and contribute to the Global Project’s goal of accelerating sustainable finance.

Revising Nigeria's Sovereign Green Bond Framework

• Draft a revised Nigeria Sovereign Green Bond Framework covering use of proceeds, project evaluation and selection, management of proceeds, and reporting in line with international best practices and national frameworks.
• Support the provision of an independent Second Party Opinion (SPO)

Support in the issuance of a green bond

• Identify and verify a pipeline of eligible green expenditures across line ministries consistent with the updated framework, Nigeria’s NDCs, and GGBI ESG requirements.
• Support post-issuance reporting and transparency through advisory in the first allocation and impact reports.

Capacity building to institutionalise green bond issuance capabilities

• Deliver targeted training for Ministry of Finance divisions and line ministries on framework implementation, project eligibility, data management, and reporting.

• Revised Sovereign Green Bond Framework
• Green Bond Post-Issuance Reports