The Development Finance Corporation, or DFC, has just made history, becoming the first financial institution in Belize to earn accreditation from the Green Climate Fund. What does that mean? Access to up to one hundred million dollars for climate-friendly projects. According to DFC’s CEO Henry Anderson, this milestone could mean lower interest rates and new incentives for businesses and individuals investing in clean energy, sustainable infrastructure, and water security. It’s a major step toward building a more climate-resilient Belize.
Henry Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, DFC
“This is really big and it is not only big for DFC, it is big for Belize. There is a thing called the Paris Agreement. And countries make determinations of what they will do every year to reach targets by 2030. The Green Climate Fund was created out of that, to assist countries in accessing finances to meet those National Determined Contributions and to adjust transitions away from fossil fuels. So DFC getting this accreditation allows Belize to access these finances. I must say, PACT is already accredited, so we are the second entity. PACT is accredited to do grants and we are accredited to do other financial instruments. So, we can do loans. We can do guarantees, equity, blending. So it allows us, Belize’s development bank, to have access to the funds to do projects up to a hundred million Belize dollars. So that is a different level and it creates the flexibility we need as a country. For DFC, if I may add, DFC has done a lot of work at the legal level. We changed the act to broaden the scope to strengthen the governance of DFC. As part of this process we got funding through the Green Climate Fund to fill what we call a readiness gap, to tighten the areas we needed to strengthen. That process started all the way back in 2019 and finished in 2023. We must say thanks to the Caribbean Development Bank for assisting us and serving as our mentor through that proves. What this accreditation is saying to the world is that DFC is one of two hundred entities that meets this level of governance and ability to do business with the GCF, so it is big.”
Anderson says DFC hopes to see the first project get off the ground within the next year and a half. He also thanked the Ministry of Economic Development for this support in acquiring this accreditation.