African leaders asked to create room for climate adaptation investments
Leaders in Africa are being urged to create an enabling environment to facilitate the flow of climate adaptation investments.
With that in place, the continent can attract funding to support the implementation of its National Determined Contributions (NDCs), a national plan under the Paris Agreement.
The recommendations which were part of a report titled: “State and Trends in Adaptation in Africa 2022”, launched by the Global Center on Adaptation, is an international organization that works as a solutions broker to accelerate action and support for adaptation solutions today.
The report revealed that cumulative adaptation finance to 2030 would come to less than one-quarter of the estimated needs stated by African countries in their NDCs unless more funding for climate adaptation was secured.
“In 2019 and 2020 an estimated $11.4 billion was committed to climate adaptation finance in Africa with more than 97 per cent of the funds coming from public actors and less than three per cent from private sectors.
“This is significantly less than the $52.7 billion annually to 2030 it is estimated African countries will need,” it said.
Professor Patrick Verkooijen, the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Center on Adaptation, commenting on the report findings said adaptation finance was scaling too slowly to close the investment gap in Africa.
“As we look forward to COP27, we must generate a breakthrough on finance for climate adaptation. The Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme endorsed by the African Union, is the best vehicle we have to ensure the adaptation investment shortfall in Africa is met with action from all available sources including the private sector,” he said.
Madam Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations said: “COP27 must be a turning point. Developed countries must put forward credible plans to double adaptation finance to reach 40 billion dollars a year by 2025.”
The Secretary-General called for a new business model to deliver adaptation finance by turning adaptation priorities into pipelines of investment for projects.
Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group commended GCA for mapping the needs of the continent and how to make climate resilient infrastructure.
He said already the upstream Financing Facility at the GCA was doing so much analytical work to support countries to build climate resilience into infrastructure, into agriculture and to mainstream climate financing into national bodies.
Ms Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, the Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture for the African Union Commission said Africa’s 1.4 billion people contribute less than three per cent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
The continent, she said, found itself on the frontline of climate emergency with nine out of 10 of the most vulnerable countries in Africa.
Mr Sacko said taking the right steps to live with climate change was very crucial to Africa and said the continent would push for funding for adaptation at COP27.
Source: GNA