NAIROBI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank's private sector arm on Wednesday urged Africa's private sector to embrace green investments.
Manuel Moses, Kenya country manager at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) told Xinhua in Nairobi that use of green technology will promote sustainable development in the continent.
"We need African companies to begin to think green for the long term. Ideally every investment they make should have a green component," Moses said.
He said IFC is keen to assist Africa to make a transition towards a green economy through adoption of low carbon emission technologies.
He added that IFC will, moving forward to prioritize investments in firms that promote the building of climate change resilience.
Moses said that the IFC has made a commitment to its shareholders to ensure that by 2030, 35 percent of its global portfolio is in green or climate-resilient investments.
He observed that currently approximately 28 percent of its investments in Africa are in the green sector of the economy.
According to the IFC official, some of the sectors that IFC has invested heavily include the green energy space.
Moses said the private firms often shy away from greening their investments due to the high upfront costs associated with embracing low carbon footprint.
He said that over the long term, the private sector will reap huge returns by adopting green technologies, noting that virtually all public and private sectors can benefit by embracing low carbon development pathways.
