Hanan Morsy, chief economist at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has said that Africa requires as much as $2.5 trillion in climate finance to be able to tackle climate change by 2030.
Morsy who made this known on Thursday at the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (COM2024) in Zimbabwe, said that Africa has contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions but the continent is affected the most by climate change.
Morsy said that the continent attracts only two percent of global investments in clean energy despite needing $2.8 trillion by 2030, adding that African countries pay about 1.7 percentage points higher interest on debt than other countries.
“We end up in a vicious circle with investment shortfalls increasing exposure risk and worsening impact, further eroding fiscal space and raising finance costs,” she said. “Despite producing low emissions compared to other continents, climate change is costing African countries 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) annually,”.
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Speaking further, she said “the situation is further compounded by heavy public debt. Countries are spending more servicing their debt than on climate action.”
Story was adapted from theCable.
