Signing Ceremony of the Joint Programme on Green and Climate Finance

Excellency Mme. Phonevanh Outhavong, Vice-Minister of Planning and Investment

Mr. Thomas Lammar, Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of Luxembourg,

Distinguished representatives from Government Ministries and departments,

Colleagues from the United Nations,

Ladies and gentlemen:

It is my great pleasure to join you for the official launch of the UN Joint Programme on Coordinated Technical Assistance to the Government of Lao PDR on Green and Climate Finance.

This is an initiative is a bold step forward and a culmination of months of deliberate design, collaboration and consensus-building. Today’s signing is the result of a long and thoughtful process driven by shared vision and national ownership. 

The development of this Joint Programme involved extensive consultation across ministries, the UN system and development partners. I would like to acknowledge the leadership of the Ministry of Planning and Investment in making this important event possible. I also extend my appreciation to our key partners in the journey: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and Bank of Lao PDR for their crucial support.

I am deeply grateful to the Government of Luxembourg and the Embassy of Luxembourg in Vientiane for the critical support to Lao PDR, including through the UN system. In the context of a global funding crisis, your timely and generous contribution is especially valuable in accelerating the country’s green transition.

Ladies and gentlemen:

Today, as we gather to sign this important project, I want to emphasize the critical significance of green and climate finance for Lao PDR. 

The transforming landscape of our planet, characterized by climate change, environmental degradation, and increased frequency and intensity of disasters affects Lao PDR disproportionately. With majority of the population engaged in agriculture and rural livelihoods, the impacts of erratic weather patterns, risks of floods and droughts, threaten food security and lives of the most vulnerable. Investing in green and climate finance is not merely a choice, but a necessity for safeguarding our future.

The 2024 Round Table Implementation Meeting underscored the importance of sustainable financing for development priorities and emphasized the need for improved macroeconomic management, stronger collaboration between the public and private sector, and targeted policy actions to promote sustainable and green growth.

This UN Joint Programme on Green and Climate Finance is a response to that very need. Anchored in Chapter 5.3 of the 9th National Socio-Economic Development Plan’s Financing Strategy, this programme exemplifies how a coherent and coordinated approach can support Lao PDR’s transition toward an inclusive, climate-resilient and green economy. The Joint Programme also directly supports Lao PDR’s environmental objectives and commitments under the Paris Agreement and the SDGs, particularly SDG 13 on Climate Action, SDG 15 on Life on Land, and SDG 17 on Partnerships. All of us in this room also share a strong view that the 10th NSEDP should be climate-proof, and there’s more work that we need to do in that regard.

Our collective aim is to close the gap between ambition and implementation—between a future that is green and clean, and the financial systems that must underpin it.

With this Joint Programme, we are advancing three core objectives:

• First, strengthening the enabling environment for green and climate finance through integrated policy reform and institutional capacity development;
• Second, improving coordination and coherence through the establishment of a Sub-Committee on Green and Climate Finance; and
• Third, mobilizing innovative financing, both public and private, to catalyze green investment pipelines that align with the country’s environmental and climate goals.

This effort is being carried out through a coordinated approach by four UN agencies, each bringing technical expertise to specific aspects of green and climate finance.

For example, UNDP is spearheading institutional reform and policy coherence, including in the extractive sector and biodiversity finance. UNEP is supporting sustainable budgeting and environmental fiscal reform, working closely with the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Lao PDR. FAO is enabling the creation of a national Payment for Environmental Services mechanism, offering a long-term solution for financing forest conservation. And UN-Habitat is working with local governments to build capacity for low-emission urban development and to unlock access to climate finance for cities.

Each agency is contributing uniquely, but all are working together in full alignment with government priorities and in partnership with key national institutions as well as with select provincial governments and municipalities.

Most importantly, this broad-based partnership reflects a shared recognition: that economic growth must be decoupled from environmental degradation, and that sustainable development must be financed in a way that is inclusive, equitable and forward-looking.

Dear friends and colleagues:

In a world facing intertwined environmental, economic and social crises, we cannot afford to work in silos. This initiative has been guided at every stage by the core principles of joint programming: government leadership, results orientation, mutual accountability, and alignment with national strategies.

This is why I am particularly pleased that this joint programme will be our first pooled fund. Interagency pooled funds are especially effective in channelling strategic, predictable and flexible earmarked funding, and to enable a shift from fragmentation and silos towards integrated and coordinated action. This blueprint of four UN agencies working together with Ministries, provinces and institutions sets an example for other joint programmes to follow.

I mentioned earlier that this moment represents many months of determined consultation and design. Yet the work is still ahead of us. Implementation awaits and we must move fast. 

So let us preserve the spirt of collaboration and shared purpose to catalyze real and lasting change – for a greener, more resilient and more prosperous Lao PDR.

Thank you.