On Thursday, March 20, 2025, the BCEAO organized a masterclass marking the launch of its 2025 activity program in partnership with HEC Paris. This virtual meeting drew close to 900 participants from various organizations including lending institutions, microfinance institutions, and WAEMU countries’ economic and financial agencies. Representatives from the central banks of Congo, Comoros, Haiti, Guinea, Mauritania, Madagascar, and the BEAC also took part in the meeting.

Chaired by the General Manager of COFEB, Mahaman Tahir Hamani, the session began with a warm welcome to all those in attendance, highlighting their contribution to a vital topic: “Finance and Climate: A Call to Action”. Mr. Hamani highlighted the importance of finance in the fight against climate change and the need to integrate climate risks into investment decisions.

The masterclass was led by Anne Frisch, Professor of Finance at HEC Paris. Her presentation focused on planetary limits and climate risks, decarbonization and adaptation strategies, the challenges and opportunities of climate finance in West Africa, and the strategic role of banks in the transition.

Professor Frisch's presentation highlighted the fact that Africa would receive only 3% of global funding for national climate plans, even though the region is the most vulnerable to climate change and is bearing the brunt of its impacts in the form of droughts, floods, fires, and rising sea levels. The continent therefore needs to consider mobilizing eight to ten times more capital for the effective implementation of the necessary adaptation and mitigation measures. To achieve this, African banks will have to overcome obstacles such as a lack of data and tools and insufficient regulation. They must also explore the international market for green bonds and green loans.

At the end of the presentation, discussions with the participants focused mainly on the concepts of green finance and climate finance, solutions to facilitate the access of developing countries to the Green Climate Fund under the Paris Agreement, the BCEAO’s contribution in terms of regulation to encourage lending institutions to finance renewable energy, and the low level of financing granted to the African continent, which suffers disproportionately from climate change.

At the closing of the masterclass, Christine Castan, Academic Director of CEMSTRAT 1, and Bertrand Quélin, Academic Director of CEMSTRAT 2, presented the schedules for the Executive Certificate in Strategic Banking Management (CEMSTRAT) in 2025:

- CEMSTRAT 1: Aimed at operational and technical directors, and

- CEMSTRAT 2: Designed for general managers and administrators.

Training will begin on April 29, 2025, and May 20, 2025, respectively, and is scheduled to end in November 2025. Balamine Diane, Deputy Director of Education and Training Programs at COFEB and moderator of the session, encouraged all institutions to enroll their staff and reiterated that the BCEAO would continue to subsidize the CEMSTRAT programs to make them more affordable.

The masterclass highlighted the challenges of climate finance in Africa while also emphasizing the importance of collaborative action and adequate training to prepare sector stakeholders to respond to these vital issues. All institutions were encouraged to actively participate in training programs to contribute to sustainable development in the region.