India’s first Green Climate Fund set up in Tamil Nadu worth ₹1,000 crore

CHENNAI, Tamil Nadu: The Government of Tamil Nadu issued an order to set up the Tamil Nadu Green Climate Fund (TNGCF) worth ₹1,000 crore to support climate change-related initiatives, greening projects, and mitigation efforts. It is the first-of-its-kind fund in the country which will mobilise resources from the government, development finance institutions, and international climate funds. The Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Corporation (TNIFMC) Limited will manage the fund with a greenshoe option of another ₹1,000 crore. 

The state government will provide the initial ₹100 crore which will be generated through equity, equity-linked instruments, convertible instruments, and debentures among others with a 10-year tenure extendable for two years.  

Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Forests and Climate Change Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, said that under the SEBI Alternative Investment Fund Regulations, 2012, the process of registering TNGCF as a category 1 (social venture fund) will be done in a week or 10 days. “Once the registration is done, we will open the fund for private players for collaborate effort,” Sahu said.

According to the press release, the indicative list of the investment under the fund includes climate-friendly products/alternatives, carbon/ greenhouse gas reduction technologies, renewable green energy, pollution control technologies/products, forest development and conservation including ecotourism, EV/hybrids, and associated infrastructure, waste management, sustainable agriculture, water resource management, etc.   

To steer climate action plans effectively, the state government has set up three key missions namely, Tamil Nadu Green Mission, Tamil Nadu Climate Change Missions, and the Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission. It has also set up Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company (TNGCC) which is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to help implement the state climate action plan. 

The government has operationalized a climate studio at Anna University and constituted a governing council on climate change with senior secretaries and sector experts from various key departments.