African political and business leaders have adopted a declaration intended to address climate challenges in Africa on the final day of a major climate summit in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
Among the declaration adoption and announced on Wednesday by the summit’s convener, Kenyan President William Ruto, was the proposal of a new global taxes and reforms to international financial institutions that will help fund climate change action in a declaration that will form the basis of their negotiating position at November’s COP28 summit.
The proposal is the culmination of the first ever African Climate Summit, held in Kenya and involving leaders from the continent of 1.3 billion people – a population set to double by 2050.
According to the Nairobi Declaration, the money would be used to provide “dedicated, affordable and accessible finance for climate positive investments at scale” and insulate them from changing domestic interests.
Also, leaders called for a reform of the global financial system that currently makes it far more expensive for countries in Africa to borrow money than it does for countries in Europe, like the UK. That is expected to make it much harder to fund projects like wind or solar farms that the continent needs to build a cleaner energy future.
Read also: Nairobi Declaration: Africa makes demands in Climate Fight
As part of efforts to shed an image of the continent as bearing the brunt of floods, drought and other climate change impacts, the Nairobi gathering, among other things, highlighted how African nations can tackle the climate crisis – especially by boosting renewable energy.
The leaders also called on other nations to get behind their plans, which will form a key part of their negotiating position in the upcoming global climate talks, COP28 in Dubai in December.
Countries also agree the global next steps to tackle climate change, with single states or alliances offering different actions, such as funding projects or ditching coal, in return for others doing the same.
Story was adapted from Sky News.
