Programs and Partners

Vanuatu Business Resilience Council

The Vanuatu Business Resilience Council (VBRC) is a sub-committee of the VCCI and provides a coordination mechanism for the private sector to engage with government and partners on resilience building, response and recovery activities.

Established in October 2017, the VBRC is supported by the Connecting Business Initiative (CBi), in collaboration with the UNDP Pacific Risk Resilience Programme (PRRP). VBRC’s role is to coordinate and strengthen engagement of the private sector in disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response and recovery, and climate change adaptation and mitigation in Vanuatu.

In 2018, VBRC facilitated the first ever Private Sector Climate Finance Tradeshow organized in Vanuatu by VCCI, VBRC and Ministry of Climate Change, and supported by GGGI. Later in the year, VBRC and GGGI were nominated by the Vanuatu National Advisory Board (NAB) on climate change to develop a Green Climate Fund readiness proposal that would further support the work of the VCCI/VBRC.

Read more about the Green Climate Fund Readiness Project below.

Membership of the VBRC is inclusive with a focus on the private sector. The VBRC meets monthly at the VCCI office.

The VBRC is a member of the Pacific Business Resilience Network and the Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO). To contact VBRC, please email reception@vcci.vu

Green Climate Fund Readiness Project: to assist Vanuatu’s Private Sector access Climate Finance

What is the Green Climate Fund (GCF)?

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a new global fund created to support the efforts of developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change.

It was set up by the 194 countries who are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010, as part of the Convention’s financial mechanism. It aims to deliver equal amounts of funding to mitigation and adaptation, while being guided by the Convention’s principles and provisions.

Funding can be accessed by least developed countries and small island states to address the pressing mitigation and adaptation needs of these developing countries.

What is the Mobilizing the Vanuatu Private Sector towards Climate Action project?

The Mobilizing the Vanuatu Private Sector towards Climate Action project is a project aimed at assisting the private sector to access climate finance.

It was designed and submitted to the Green Climate Fund for consideration by the Vanuatu Business Resilience Council,  sub-committee of VCCI. The project was successful in securing funds from GCF in early 2019, and its first phase is set for completion in May 2020.

What is climate finance?

Climate finance refers to local, regional or international financing—drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing—that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change.

Climate finance is needed for mitigation, because large-scale investments are required to significantly reduce emissions. Climate finance is equally important for adaptation, as significant financial resources are needed to adapt to the negative effects and reduce the impacts of a changing climate.

Some examples of organisations who have project money available under the banner of climate finance include Asia Development Bank, World Bank and the Green Climate Fund.

How does the Mobilizing the Vanuatu Private Sector towards Climate Action project work?

There are many barriers to the private sector accessing climate finance. Barriers include limited capacity/knowledge/awareness about available technologies and market opportunities among key stakeholders and core actors in the investment value chain and the capacity for SMEs within the private sector to develop proposals for consideration by climate finance organisations.

The project aims at setting up mechanisms to address the barriers above, including:

• Information/knowledge sharing to SMEs across Vanuatu about climate finance
• Training on climate change and adaptation and mitigation options for businesses
• The development of a Project Preparation Unit to assist the facilitation of project proposal development, on behalf of SMEs
• Facilitating opportunities for new Public-Private Partnerships with a particular focus on tourism and agriculture (but also including other sectors which need to adapt or could contribute to mitigation)

The project delivery partner is the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), an international, organisation dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. GGGI holds an MoU with VCCI for the implementation of this project. GGGI provides technical support in energy, water and tourism sector of Vanuatu.

For more information about the project please email reception@vcci.vu