Supporting the Bank of Kigali’s climate transformation

The Government has committed to carbon neutrality by 2050 and a 38% reduction in emissions by 2030. Achieving these goals requires mobilizing substantial private investment. As Rwanda’s largest commercial bank, BK is well positioned to drive this shift by embedding climate finance into its core operations and by developing financial products dedicated to green and resilient growth.

The project supports BK in mainstreaming climate change around the four pillars from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD):

• Governance: integrate climate oversight into the Board’s mandate, create a sustainability unit, and train staff on climate finance;

• Strategy: adopt an ESG strategy, set targets to grow climate lending by 30%, launch at least one new climate finance product, and prepare a Sustainability-Linked Bond framework;

• Risk management: strengthen the environmental and social risk management system, integrate climate risk tools into credit appraisal;

• Metrics and reporting: assess the loan portfolio against Rwanda’s green taxonomy and publish a sustainability report aligned with international standards.

The technical assistance will help the BK put its climate ambitions into action, building the strategies, governance, tools, and skills needed to deliver on its transformation objectives and scale up green lending.

• Climate considerations embedded into BK’s governance, operations and lending.

• Greater availability of finance for climate mitigation and adaptation in Rwanda.

• Introduction of new green financial products in the Rwandan market.

• Demonstration effect for other banks, accelerating green finance uptake.