Global financiers urged to be truthful in fight against climate change
Left to Right: Ms Anita Soina, A Climate Justice Advocate, Ms Serah Makka, ONE Africa Executive Director and Dr John Asafu-Adjaye, Senior fellow, Africa Centre for Economic Transformation during the One Campaign media briefing at the start of the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi Kenya. PHOTO | POOL
Development partners have been urged to honor their promise made in the Paris agreement of investing $100 billion in mitigating Africa’s climate challenges, with experts claiming that since the agreement was enacted in November 2016, no tangible investments have witnessed on the continent.
According to Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, the Africa Union Commissioner in charge of Agriculture, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, though African nations are among the most vulnerable to climate change effects, the continent receives a disproportionately small amount of global climate finance compared to other regions.
This makes it difficult to effectively combat the negative effects of climate change, even though the continent has significant natural assets that could provide global climate solutions.
"The estimated annual cost of Africa’s climate adaptation by 2050 is $50 billion and the region has the world's highest potential for renewable energy. Yet the continent currently receives $19.5 billion per year in total climate finance and only 3 percent of global investment in clean energy," noted Ms Josefa.
She called on World Bank shareholders and donor governments to commit to tripling grants and loans from the IBRD and IDA, which could deliver an additional $1.2 trillion in finance by 2030.
She also called on donor governments to deliver on their commitment to double adaptation finance and commit to a framework for the Global Goal on Adaptation that is needs-based and includes targets and indicators.
Meanwhile Serah Makka, the Director for Africa at The ONE Campaign, said that the key to unlocking the untapped potential of the continent isn’t through handouts or second-hand solutions from rich nations, but rather removing the barriers that stand in its way.
She said that through its leaders, the continent needs to unite around a shared pan African agenda that challenges the narrative of Africa being the constant docile recipient and showcase the continent’s strength and aptitude to take a leading role in the fight against climate change and nature loss.
“African countries possess the tools, talent and renewable resources to fuel their own growth and be at the vanguard of efforts to tackle climate change, poverty and inequality everywhere. But they are being blocked by a broken global financial system that denies them access to the affordable finance needed to unleash this potential," noted Ms Makka.
Ahead of COP28, she said that Africa needs to negotiate not from a victim perspective, but from a solutions perspective, adding that no country must choose between improving the lives of their people and protecting the planet.
"If the rest of the world truly gets behind Africa they can help unleash a green economic revolution that will drive growth and prosperity across the continent and help the whole world to rise to the biggest shared challenges we face," noted Ms Makka.
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