Equity Bank Uganda has outlined its contribution to climate finance and clean energy, revealing at a high-level dialogue in Kampala on October 14 that it has disbursed UGX37.6 billion in green loans and supported the sale of 157,035 clean-energy products. The bank has also onboarded 18 clean-energy implementing partners and mobilised UGX4.75 billion in green finance funds through a partnership with the Uganda Energy Credit Capitalisation Company, according to the bank's managing director Gift Shoko.
Shoko told attendees at the third CEOs' Breakfast Meeting and High-Level Dialogue on Green Economy that Uganda must move beyond sustainability commitments to financing projects capable of attracting investment and delivering measurable benefits. He stressed that "the question is no longer whether Uganda can afford to invest in sustainability. The question is whether we can afford not to." The bank said it had planted 96,638 trees over the past three years and is targeting 200,000 trees by 2027 through its Equity Green Schools Programme.
Equity Group recently signed a USD200 million agreement to support smallholder farmers and micro and small enterprises through smart agriculture, with Uganda expected to access approximately USD50 million of the facility. The bank said it had trained more than 100,000 young people in financial literacy and related skills to complement efforts to improve access to financing.
Participants at the meeting, which included representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister, UNICEF, the World Bank and Heifer International, identified rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and environmental degradation as growing threats to agricultural production and economic progress. They called for increased investment in renewable energy and wetland protection, alongside coordinated action to build an effective green-finance ecosystem.