Our journey continues

As we embark from 2021 towards our results and impact horizon of 2025, we hope that our first NDF Results Report has given you an overview of our progress and achievements so far. We also hope that the examples showcased here have given you a flavour of the work that NDF is doing, together with our strategic partners, to support those countries worst impacted by the climate change and development challenges.

While we are proud of what we have done and achieved together with our strategic partners by 2021, we know it is not enough. As the only Nordic International Financial Institution for climate and development, NDF has a clear mandate to fund tangible climate action, and we do this shoulder to shoulder with our strategic partners. Now that the science is clear and the window of opportunity to keep global warming below 1.5 Celsius is closing very fast, it is imperative that we strengthen our existing partnerships and build new ones to ramp up our climate action.

This is what makes our work in climate finance so critically important, in particular for the development and sustainable livelihood of local communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, Small Island Developing States and fragile countries.

By co-financing climate mitigation projects, we are contributing to the global effort of reducing global warming impacts from the middle of this century onwards. Additionally, we strongly promote the importance of climate adaptation financing. This can contribute to building and enhancing resilience today, in preparation for sudden climatic events that may happen now as well as for slow-onset climatic events that may well manifest before mid-century.

The world is working towards reaching the global adaptation goals set in the Paris Agreement for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2021, at COP26, we witnessed the high sense of urgency around adaptation and adaptation finance. This was not only coming from the most vulnerable but also from stakeholders who have started to understand the risks related to inaction, as well as the impacts and opportunities that climate adaptation can bring.

The two-year Glasgow–Sharm el-Sheikh COP work program represents a clear global commitment for ramping up future work on climate adaptation. As part of this global effort, on the road to COP27 and beyond, NDF will continue to work hard together with our strategic partners on financing climate adaptation action in the world’s most affected countries, including the small island states, and countries in fragile situations.