Ahead of the crucial COP27 climate conference that is slated to hold in Sharm El-Sheikh in November, ministers of 24 African countries have urged wealthier nations to uphold their aid pledges so the continent can tackle climate change effects for which it shares little blame.
Recall that the African Development Bank had said that the continent will need as much as $1.6 trillion between 2020 and 2030 for its own efforts to limit climate change and adapt to the adverse effects that are already apparent.
Chief economist at the African Development Bank, Kevin Chika Urama had said that Africa faced a climate financing gap of about $108bn each year.
“Climate finance structure today is biased against climate-vulnerable countries. The more vulnerable you are the less climate finance you receive,” he was quoted as saying.
The ministers made their call in a communique they prepared at the close of a three-day forum that was held in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Friday just two months before the commencement of the climate change summit.
In the communique, the ministers urged developed countries to fulfil their pledges in relation to climate and development finance, and deliver on their commitments to double adaptation finance to Africa.
Former UN chief, Ban Ki-moon had some time this week and noted that although the continent of Africa only emits some three per cent of global CO2 emissions, African nations are among those most exposed to the effects of climate change, including worsening droughts and floods.
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The African leaders said that the financial aid was needed in view of “the disproportionate impact of climate change and nature loss on the African continent”. They said that Africa has not only shown a “low carbon footprint”, but also plays a key role in capturing greenhouse gases, including in the Congo Basin, which is home to the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest after the Amazon.
In the communique, the leaders urged rich countries to meet and expand climate pledges and said poor countries should be able to develop economically while receiving more funds to adapt to the effects of climate change.
The document stressed “the need to avoid approaches that encourage abrupt disinvestments from fossil fuels, as this will … threaten Africa’s development”.
The role of gas in the transition to cleaner energy remains a key point of contention at COP27 and climate activists say it needs to be quickly phased out and replaced with renewables.
Nigerian finance minister Zainab Ahmed told the Cairo forum that gas was a matter of survival for her country.
“If we are not getting reasonably-priced finance to develop gas, we are denying the citizens in our countries the opportunities to attain basic development,” she said during the forum.
The communique also called for focusing on climate change in a review of multilateral development banks and international financial institutions and suggested the creation of a sustainable sovereign debt hub that could reduce the cost of capital for developing states and support debt-for-nature swaps.
Story was adapted from Aljazeera.
