An Africa Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Forum, was held at the Sofitel Hotel in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, for two days this week.

It was organised by the African Development Bank, the Multilateral Cooperation Centre for Development Finance and Making Finance Work for Africa.
The forum discussed ESG reporting challenges, investor expectations and concluded with the inaugural meeting of the ESG working group.

Representatives of various participating institutions shared their ESG implementation experiences.
Moubarak Moukaila of the West African Development Bank highlighted the Bank’s progress in sustainable project development. “We created, at the beginning of this year, a unit that supports project development. We have developed, within six months, three projects with GEM and two projects with Green Climate Fund.”

Two days of intensive discussions on building a sustainable finance ecosystem for Africa ended in Abidjan on Tuesday with stakeholders from government and the private sector expressing strong support for an Africa-focused Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Data Hub.

Ahlem Kefi, Impact & Sustainability Officer at AfricInvest, outlined the firm’s comprehensive approach to sustainability assessments.
He said small business (SMEs), engaging the sector would be critical in advancing ESG reporting and sustainable finance across the continent.
In addition, plans for the proposed Hub was discussed, to ensure it provides a credible platform for training and technical assistance, as well as share best practice and case studies.

Picture: (From left) Olumide Lala, Executive Director, Climate Transition Limited with Natenin Coulibaly, General Manager Corporate Services, MTN; Armande Laetitia Ohouo-Lath, Director of Sustainable Development, SIFCA; Rachael Antwi, Group Sustainability and Environmental Risk, ECOBANK and Azeez Alayande, ESG Manager, ENGIE Nigeria during a session on Challenges and Opportunities in ESG Reporting in Africa at the Africa ESG Forum

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