Nordic Environment Finance Corporation
- The Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (Nefco) is an international financial institution founded by the five Nordic countries—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden—seeking to improve the environment.
- Nefco supports projects, mostly in the Arctic, the Baltic and Barents coasts, Eastern Europe, that scale up green solutions, promote green transition, mitigate effects of climate change and enable adaptation to new conditions.
- Nefco finances projects using its investment capital and manages the funds of its partners. Since 2005, the corporation has become a financial manager of the Arctic Council Project Support Instrument (PSI).
History of Nefco
Environment protection had become a topical issue in the political agenda of the Nordic countries by 1990 when their governments decided to establish Nefco. Denmark became the first country to establish the first environmental ministry in 1971, the Ministry of Pollution Combating later was renamed the Ministry for the Environment. Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland followed its lead.
Soon it became obvious that efforts of only the Nordic countries were not enough to solve the environmental problems in the region. One example is the sources of most emissions that polluted the Baltic sea were in other regions, Central and Eastern Europe.
In 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development organized at the initiative of the UN Secretary-General and headed by the Norwegian Ministry of Environment Gro Harlem Brundtland presented the so-called Brundtland Report on sustainable development, Our Common Future. The report pressed to act at the national, regional, and international levels.
Originally Nefco was set the task of increasing awareness about environmental issues and raising investments to the regions where the Nordic countries needed sustainable development most of all, the Eastern Europe in the first place. While handling the task, Nefco joined environmental organizations and associations into a large network and had the opportunity to effectively involve stakeholders in the implementation of projects.
With experience gained at financing projects, Nefco evolved into a valuable partner in managing funds of environmental programs, and the corporation did not allotted its funds to implement them. Nefco efficiently manages funds by the Arctic Council Project Support Instrument and public and private investors at international carbon markets. Recently the corporation has become a manager of a major foundation for decentralized power supply projects using renewable energy sources in African countries.
Project function
Nefco is a financial manager of the Arctic Council Project Support Instrument used for implementation of the Project, “Phase-out of Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases and Ozone-Depleting Substances at Fish and Seafood Processing Enterprises of the Murmansk Oblast (Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation).” Nefco supervises performance of the Project implementation and participates in the Project Supervising Committee (PSC).
Links:
About Nefco in English (official website): https://www.nefco.int/about-nefco/