19 December 2023, Mumbai: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), launchedan initiative to facilitate climate action in India’s agriculture, natural resources, and rural development (ANR) sector. Under this initiative, a Technical Support Unit (TSU) has been set up in NABARD with the partnership of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to enable NABARD to address the challenges posed by climate change, particularly in the areas of agriculture and rural livelihood sectors in India.
At the launch event, Shri Shaji K V, Chairman of NABARD, highlighted the importance of enhancing climate resilience since close to 55% of assets in the Indian Banking sector are prone to climate risks. He also mentioned, that “NABARD is committed to not just support rural financial institutions in India to identify and abate climate risks but also channel global pools of climate capital into India’s ANR sector. At the same time, NABARD is also focussed on setting up a path to climate neutrality in its operations.” Mio Oka, Director, Agriculture, Food, Nature, and Rural Development Sector Office, ADB, and Srivalli Krishnan, Senior Program Officer, BMGF were also present during the launch event.
Intellecap Advisory Services Private Limitedhas been appointed to manage this Technical Support Unit. Intellecap has proven experience in on-ground management of large-scale programs in agriculture and other agri-allied sectors, with a climate adaptation as well as mitigation focus. NABARD would like to use this opportunity to call all the ecosystem partners to join us in this journey and make this planet a better place to live.
