By Jeff Kapembwa
The case of climate financing for Africa and Low Income Countries, Zambia included, has become a ‘Clarion Call’ but the success of the fund mobilisation to initiate mitigation and foster resilience calls for a reminder of the main polluters to honour the US$100 billion pledged at various Conference of Parties since 2015.
The African Development Bank has become the ‘climate change lead’ and is urging for collaboration among players in raising the funds needed to first mitigate, become resilient and later call for compensation in Loss and Damage by emitters of GreenHouse Gases (GHG), United States, Japan, India among others to pay for the environmental and economic losses.
Interest groups in the fight against climate change have met in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi during the African Development Bank group meeting and a calling for mitigation project proposals in 37-Low Income Countries.
The lobby marks a start for all countries, Zambia included, to mitigate the climate crisis despite their low contributions to the emission that have reversed the gains made in environmental and economic emancipation.
During the deliberations on the sidelines of the AfDB meeting being held from May 27-31 in Nairobi, Kenya, comprises the 59th Annual Assembly of the African Development Bank and the 50th meeting of the African Development Fund and themed: “Africa’s Transformation, African Development Bank Group, and Reform of the Global Financial Architecture.” The call for project proposals are underway, an initiative that seeks to make affected countries climate resilient.
Under the Climate Action Window-second call for mitigation project proposals in 37 low-income African countries, there is a robust response of a whooping US$4 billion with 359 proposals eligible with a US$13.2 million approved for CAW
Arguably, the window was created during the 16th replenishment of the African Development Fund (ADF-16) to support 37 low-income and vulnerable African countries in accelerating and scaling up access to climate finance for actions addressing the impacts and shocks of climate change.
During a special session of the donors to the CAW, African Development Bank Vice-President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth Kevin Kariuki said the second call was sought to focus on climate mitigation projects to help reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions.
The goal is to promote approaches that support achieving net-zero emissions, he says. Kariuki underscored the effects of climate change across the continent – floods in Kenya and Tanzania, cyclone Freddy’s devastating impact in South Africa and current droughts in the southern Africa region.
Africa’s massive climate financing needs – currently standing at around $277 billion – can only be met with innovative tools. These include guarantee mechanisms, issuance of sustainable hybrid bonds, and the Bank’s Climate Action Window, which seeks to mobilize $4 billion during the current ADF-16 cycle.
The AfDB Board of Governors approval of $13.2 million from its net income for the Climate Action Window. Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, the founding donor countries, were acknowledged for “believing in the AfDB dream”.
The first call for proposals for the CAW saw 359 eligible projects worth $4 billion dollars highlighting the extent of the adaptation needs, Kariuki said. The projects cover all ADF countries through 31 national and 10 multinational projects.
African Development Bank Group Director Anthony Nyong said the projects – “the largest pipeline of adaptation projects on the continent” spanned various sectors, including agriculture, water security, early warning and climate information systems, green finance, and resilient infrastructure.
The Bank has made a commitment to allocate at least 40 percent of its annual investments amounting to $25 billion to climate finance during the period 2020-25 and is on target to meet this if current lending continues. In 2023 it committed $5.85 billion in 2023 as climate finance, Kariuki said. The Bank’s “triple A” of climate finance – availability, access and affordability, would guide the Bank’s efforts.
Meanwhile the ADF had opened the CAW to support the climate financing needs of low-income countries with an initial financing of $429 million. The fund is expected to grow to $14 billion.
The second call is open to government entities, ministries, departments, agencies, departments of the African Development Bank, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and inter-governmental organizations (including United Nations organizations, regional economic communities, and regional river basin climate centers).
Submission deadline for all proposals is set for 8 July 2024 (11:59 GMT).
Criteria (Financing):
The CAW is allocating approximately $64 million for this call for mitigation proposals. Financing will take the form of grants. Funding requests for a single project or program may range from $3-5 million. The independent evaluation committee may recommend granting financing beyond or below these limits in exceptional cases.
Meanwhile the AfDB, in its ‘Africa Economic Outlook report, estimates that the continent requires as much as $2.8 trillion through 2030 to implement its climate commitments as set out in countries’ recently submitted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Zambia’s environment minister Collins Nzovu had two years ago, Zambia then as the Chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) to the Africa’s first COP 27, planned for November 6-18 has engaged reiterated the cry from Low Income Countries for key polluters to fulfill the belated US$100 billion financing pledge made during the COP 15.
Minister Nzovu said in Africa’s belief, the US, India, China, among other ‘key polluters of the earth’ need to account for their earth’s pollution and compensate to allow for mitigations, chiefly Africa, whose environment is degraded and inhabitable, leaving a “shell of the earth”. There is a need to adapt sooner than later.
Africa’s inflows of climate finance remain very low (only 3% of global climate finance), and tend to focus on small-scale, fragmented and uncoordinated operations primarily concentrated in middle-income countries.
The bank calls for urgent responses to the climate emergency were needed at several levels.
“At the global level, the developed economies must meet their commitment to provide $100 billion annually in climate finance. The global climate financial architecture must be changed to prioritize the needs of Africa. At the national level, we must accelerate actions on climate adaptation,” the AfDB chief reiterated.
Africa is urged to revalue its wealth by accounting for the proper valuation of its abundant natural resources, including its vast forests and peat lands that sequester carbon.
African nations should voluntarily consider climate-friendly endeavors’ “not because someone has told us so, but because we have to”.
Adesina highlighted a number of key Bank initiatives to support a climate-resilient and decarbonized future for Africa. It is also championing several flagship programmes to scale up climate action and green investments across the continent.
AfDB, as a show of commitment, pledged to double its climate finance to $25 billion by 2025. It further launched the $20 billion Desert to Power initiative to harness solar power and deliver clean electricity to 250 million people in the Sahel region, arguably to power every home, every school and every hospital.