What a pleasure it was to interview Diana Chepng’eno (pictured below) at SAM 2023 in Togo last month! She is such a warm and energetic person – and deeply engaged in the critical work of climate adaptation and mitigation across Africa and the Middle East.
During SAM 2023, Ms Chepng’eno spoke at the opening plenary session “Making Africa’s Future Sustainable – Climate, Socio-economic Development and Inclusive Finance” as well as a breakout session titled “Helping Financial Institutions Deal with Climate Change – Assessing Risks and Strengthening Institutional Resilience.”
Bob Summers: What are you working on with the V20 group of climate-vulnerable nations (which now comprises 68 low- and middle-income countries)?
Diana Chepng’eno: Sitting within the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, under the Principles for Sustainable Insurance, we are ramping up a Sustainable Insurance Facility. We launched the facility in 2022 to advocate for the importance of insurance for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in V20 countries as a significant driver for mitigating climate change risks. MSMEs, for example, comprise about 75 percent of the total GDP of the V20. Therefore, if we can support these MSMEs by facilitating access to much-needed insurance, so that they may become more climate resilient, then these entire countries can be climate-resilient.
BS: What mechanisms does the facility use?
DC: The work is all based on partnerships. Insurers are critical, of course. We also need firms that