Group president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina estimated that by 2030, Africa would require around 2.7 trillion dollars to finance climate change.
This was stated by Adesina on Monday during the ongoing 2023
AfDB Annual Meetings in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Mobilizing Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green
Growth in Africa is the focus of the sessions.
The bank president claims that climate change is wreaking
havoc across much of the continent.
In the Sahel, he claimed, rising temperatures are causing
scarce water supplies to dry up, exacerbating food insecurity by placing water
stress on cattle and crops.
He explained that in vast areas of Eastern Southern Africa
and in the Horn of Africa in particular, there was a combination of drought and
floods that are causing massive losses.
Adesina said : “ We have loss of people, loss or destruction
of infrastructure, and of course, leading to rising numbers of what I call
climate induced refugees.
“ Africa loses seven to 15 billion dollars a year from
climate change that is estimated to rise to 50 billion dollar by 2040 at the
current trend.
“But Africa, which accounts for just three per cent of the
total cumulative emissions in the world, is now suffering disproportionately
the negative consequences of that.
“Just to be clear, Africa is being shortchanged by climate
finance. Africa will need 2.7 trillion dollars by 2030 to finance climate
change needs as per the nationally determined contributions of Africa’’.
According to him, Africa gets a very paltry 30 billion
dollars in climate finance, and clearly, needs major support to be able to
adapt to climate change which it did not cause.
On adaptation, Adesina said it would cost about 250 billion
dollars and 407 billion dollars by 2030 in terms of the needs of Africa to be
able to adapt to climate change.
He reiterated that finance was key to adapting climate
change on the continent, adding that a lot more was required to support
countries on the continent.
“And that is why at the AfDB, in fulfilling our leadership
role, launched together with the Global Center on adaptation, what is called
the African adaptation acceleration program.
“The programme is to mobilise 25 billion dollars of support
for climate adaptation in Africa.
“We are also putting our money as we are about as a bank
today. We devote roughly 67per cent of our climate finance to adaptation.
“We made a commitment to provide 40 per cent of our total
financing for climate finance, we have exceeded that today, we had 45 per cent
of our total financing, go into climate,’’ he said.
According to the AfDB boss, the bank is the institution with
the highest level of diversion of resources to adaptation of any multilateral
development bank globally.
He said Africa’s finance for climate for the private sector
would have to grow by 36 per cent annually, adding that about 213 billion
dollars private sector financing was needed yearly.
Therefore you can understand that there is so much gap to be
filled in terms of private sector financing, and that is why this AfDB annual
meetings is focusing on its theme.
“Let me say to you that the opportunities of financing
climate and also financing green growth event is in Africa,’’ Adesina said.
While stating some projects achieved by the bank, Adesina
restated the need to mobilise private financing for green infrastructure.
“ It’s not just infrastructure, quality infrastructure, but
green infrastructure. And that’s why we have launched the Alliance for Green
Infrastructure in Africa.
“We need to prepare the bankable projects for private sector
to invest in and that’s why under the alliance for green infrastructure.
The bank president while stating some of its projects on
different countries, urged governments on the continent to manage its natural
capital stock, as it determined a country’s wealth.
Adesina highlighted some knowledge events that would be done
at the meeting among which is the inauguration of the African economic outlook.
While commending the media, the AfDB scribe called for more
of media collaboration in disseminating the right information.
NAN reports that the 58th Annual Meetings of the Board of
Governors of the African Development Bank and the 49th Meetings of the Board of
Governors of the African Development Fund will end on May 26.
The theme of the 2023 Annual Meetings is Mobilizing Private
Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth in Africa. It provides a
framework for Bank Group Governors to share their experiences with galvanizing
private financing domestically and internationally and harnessing natural
capital to bridge the climate financing gap and promote the transition to green
growth in Africa.
Particularly, the theme offers an opportunity for the
Governors to discuss Africa’s challenges in attracting private sector financing
in low-carbon investments and practical policies that governments can deploy to
address these bottlenecks.
The meeting comprises of statutory meetings of its Governors
(finance ministers or central bank governors representing the 81 member
countries – and knowledge events. Attendees will include representatives of
bilateral and multilateral development agencies, leading academics and
non-governmental organizations, civil society, and the private sector.
The meetings are the Bank Group’s most important event
annually, attracting around 3,000 participants.