Climate finance injustice to take center stage in upcoming Africa Climate Summit
Only a small fraction of global clean energy finance is flowing to Ethiopia, according to a joint statement issued by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Ministry of Planning and Development.
The statement, issued ahead of the second African Climate Summit scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa over the coming week, revealed that global clean energy investment hit USD two trillion last year alone and called for more financing for Africa.
“This Climate Week has shown that no continent holds greater potential than Africa for climate actions that transform lives and economies for the better. With the world’s youngest population, vast natural resources, unparalleled renewable energy potential, and extraordinary diversity and human ingenuity, Africa is a colossal coiled spring of climate action possibility. This Climate Week has shown that African innovators are putting forward pioneering solutions to boost climate resilience and cut planet-heating emissions,” reads the statement.
It lists the benefits of climate investment and adaptation in protecting communities and businesses and safeguarding infrastructure and notes that Africa has largely been ignored.
“But despite these huge dividends, available at relatively low cost, Africa remains starved of adaptation investments at scale,” reads the statement.
Its authors cite the targets and mechanisms set by various UN climate conferences, including a loss and damage fund at COP27, and highlight ambitions to raise climate finance to developing countries to USD 1.3 trillion annually by 2035.
“But to realize these benefits, COP30 must take the next concrete steps forward: with ambitious outcomes which convert agreements into results on the ground, and scalable solutions which drive a new era of implementation,” reads the statement.
This Climate Week was timed to build momentum for the Second Africa Climate Summit. Next week in Addis Ababa, the continent’s leaders are set to gather to deliberate on Africa’s action plan for climate change.
“The message is clear: Africa is ready to supercharge climate action. But COP30 must ensure Africa is fully enabled to do so. In short: COP30 must deliver for Africa and its 1.5 billion people,” reads the statement.
The Summit’s theme this year will be ‘Accelerating Global Climate Solutions: Financing for Africa’s Resilient and Green Development’.
It is being convened under the leadership of the Ethiopian government and the AU Commission, with officials hoping to advance nature-based technological solutions, scale renewable energy deployment, mobilize climate finance, and promote climate adaptation and resilience.
Organizations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warn that Africa is disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change despite contributing less than four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite this, Africa received just three percent of total global climate finance in 2019, with the figure not likely to have grown significantly over the past five years.
