BERLIN — The Renewables Academy AG (RENAC), an international training provider for green energy technologies, announced the start of the scholarship application phase for one of the trainings under its 18-month program “Green Banking MENA - Capacity Building on Green Energy and Climate Finance”. The program comprises a total of three training courses, a Train-the-Trainer seminar, an Applying Green Energy Finance Program and an Online Training. The main objective of the program is to sustainably improve capacity for renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) financing options in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

The agreement signed in Paris during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) is proof of the key role renewable energy and energy efficiency play in international climate change mitigation efforts. While green markets keep gaining momentum, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia enjoy the necessary natural resources for widespread implementation of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. Local professionals with the appropriate know-how will be able to profit from new business opportunities in a growing industry, which additionally presents manifold benefits (reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, energy security and job creation, among many others).

Currently, RE and EE projects face substantial blocks to external financing from banks, which is usually characterized by high interest rates. The trainings are intended to tackle these circumstances. Through the “Green Banking MENA” program, professionals from private and public financial institutions involved or interested in financing green energy projects will gain specific knowledge in technologies, financial schemes, risk evaluation, mitigation measures and international climate finance options. Interested professionals from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia can apply here until 15 January 2019 for the first part of the scholarship program, the Train-the-Trainer seminar at RENAC’s Training Centre in Berlin, Germany.

“Green Banking MENA” is a scholarship program as part of the project DIAPOL-CE - Policy dialogue and knowledge management on low emissions development strategies in the MENA region. DIAPOL-CE is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) within the German International Climate Initiative (IKI) and implemented by GIZ.

Since 2015, RENAC’s award-winning Green Banking program has been successfully implemented in South-East Asia and is now being transferred to other regions, such as MENA. To ensure that the content of the program meets local requirements, capacity needs assessment trips took place in winter 2017 in cooperation with the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE). “The Green Banking Train-the-Trainer seminar is a great opportunity to learn from one of the world’s top renewable energy countries as well as obtain efficient didactical methods”, said Nguyen Thi Cam Tu of Vietnam Public Joint Stock Commercial Bank, who participated in the scholarship program in Vietnam. In addition to the Train-the-Trainer seminar at RENAC’s Training Centre in Berlin to build up local trainers, the program’s activities include a face-to-face training in the partner countries and an online training. — SG