(African Development Bank) – Financing the fight against climate change and accounting for natural capital by African countries are at the top of the African Development Bank Group’s agenda at COP 29.
The world’s largest annual climate conference opened on Monday, November 11, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan, as African countries step up their efforts to combat climate change. At COP 29, the African Development Bank aims to mobilize additional resources for climate action in Africa and launch a bold new approach to assessing African economies including their “green wealth”.
Organized by the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP 29 follows on from the historic decision taken last year at COP 28 to create a Fund for Loss and Damage. This year’s summit, dubbed the “financing COP”, will see countries negotiate new climate finance targets.
Africa, with its vast carbon-sequestering forests and resources ripe for green growth, has enormous potential to drive access to clean energy for millions of people. Yet sub-Saharan Africa receives less than 3% of global climate finance, hampering efforts to advance national adaptation plans and nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement.
“Nothing justifies Africa being green poor. Africa should be green rich through proper assessment of its vast contributions to global environmental services,” African Development Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina told a meeting of African finance ministers. Economy, Foreign Affairs, Climate Change and Environment, ahead of COP 29.
To achieve this green wealth, Mr. Adesina advocates recalibrating the GDP of African countries to reflect natural assets such as forests and carbon sinks. This recalibration could reveal a significantly higher GDP, better reflecting Africa’s environmental contributions.
The COP 29 summit will serve as a platform for African leaders to showcase the “Measuring Africa’s Green Wealth” initiative, which could redefine African economies. According to preliminary estimates from the African Development Bank, the carbon sequestration adjustment alone could have boosted Africa’s nominal GDP by $66.1 billion in 2022, an increase of 2.2%. . Six Congo Basin countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon) accounted for almost 64% of this increase.
“This means that countries can have greater scope to obtain more finance and invest it in greening their economies. Therefore, such a move is important to recalculate Africa’s debt sustainability,” Mr. Adesina said.
During the meeting, participating countries expressed their strong support. The Republic of Congo and Kenya are the main champions of this initiative.
Mr Adesina called for the outcomes of the heads of state summit at the COP to be presented before next year’s African Union summit.
Mobilize more resources to help African countries fight climate change
Africa receives only 3 to 4% of global climate finance, even though it has 9 of the 10 countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change. The increase in the share of climate financing allocated to African countries constitutes, significantly, one of the major reasons for the Bank’s presence at COP 29.
The African Development Fund’s Climate Action Window will host a session on Wednesday, November 13, to discuss how to unlock climate finance for vulnerable communities in Africa through this critical arm of the Bank Group. The Climate Action Window was established as part of the Fund’s 16th replenishment round to help close Africa’s significant climate finance gap.
Other high-level events are planned, including an event this Wednesday titled “Measuring the Green Wealth of African Countries,” attended by heads of state and government. It will be followed by the launch of a report on green wealth. The Bank will host an event to mobilize support for Mission 300, a joint initiative with the World Bank Group and partners to connect 300 million people to electricity in Africa by 2030.
The African Union and the Government of the Republic of Tanzania will host a high-level side event on clean cooking titled, “Addressing the Challenges of Clean Cooking in Africa: A Call for African Leadership.” » It will highlight the urgent need for political leadership, innovative partnerships and substantial financial investments to achieve clean and sustainable cooking solutions across Africa.
Find out more about the Bank’s activities at COP 29 and follow events at the Africa Pavilion, co-sponsored by the African Development Bank to serve as a platform and voice for effective African participation for discussions on climate change, visit the COP 29 microsite.
