RAWALPINDI, MAR 28 (DNA) –  UNIDO under its ongoing GEF funded project titled “Sustainable Energy Initiative for Industries in Pakistan” successfully conducted a two days training on “Financing of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Technology based projects in Industry.”

The training was conducted by an international expert, in collaboration with Bahria University Karachi and the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI).

Addressing the conclusion session, RCCI president Zahid Latif Khan highlighted the continuous collaboration of UNIDO & RCCI for such initiatives which supports the increase of investment into low-carbon power generation by enhancing the capacity of Pakistani industries & financing institutions. He added that RCCI is always ready to partner with UNIDO to join forces to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy in the industrial sector and hopes that more of such efforts will be organised in future as they significantly contribute to the sustainable economic development of Pakistan.

The training on financing of RE & EE projects was attended by more than 100 professionals including 20 females from various industrial sectors, energy service companies, academia and banking sector of Pakistan.

The major focus of the training was to build capacity on the development and appraisal of bankable EE & RE projects using the lessons learned from international case studies. An interactive session was held on the second day of the training through the practical demonstration of financial modeling software used globally for devising the financial models of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Projects.

Moreover, the National Project Manager REEE Masroor Ahmad Khan reiterated the importance of bridging the gap between academia, financial institutions and industry which are currently disconnected. He added that the main reason is the low level of awareness of RE and EE technologies in financial sector and the financial requirements for bankable project proposals in the industrial sector.

One of the participants from Industrial sector of Pakistan, Tahir Abbas shared that this training had been a source of new information & best practices regarding efficient financial modeling of Renewables. Besides, Fatima Annila –a woman entrepreneur– applauded the efforts of GEF & UNIDO to motivate more women participation and shared that this training will help her in making efficient financial models for her startup. Wasif Azhar from Energy Management sector highlighted that this training was successful in linking technology and economics and will help to bring innovations into real world applications.

With this capacity building activities on energy and environment, UNIDO promotes sustainable patterns of industrial consumption and production through cleaner technologies and processes in order to de-link the processes of economic growth and environmental degradation. UNIDO is a leading provider of services for improved industrial energy efficiency, enhanced use of renewable sources of energy and promotion of cleaner technologies.