Trending
- Zanzibar’s growing bet on seaweed: A fix for the island’s economic diversification?
- Africa-Indonesia investment forum poised to yield $3.5Bn worth of deals
- Can Africa’s fragmented voice find unity at COP29 climate finance talks?
- Relief for DRC: 100,000 mpox vaccines to shield at-risk populations
- Inside the multibillion-dollar pacts African leaders inked with China
- Abu Dhabi gears up for AIM Congress 2025, projects to host over 25,000 participants
- New era in Nigeria energy sector as $20Bn Dangote refinery starts petrol production
- Base Titanium’s December exit: A body blow to Kenya’s struggling mining sector?
Sustainability
- The 300MW wind farm will be financed, built, and operated by AMEA Power under a 25-year power purchase agreement with Ethiopian Electric Power.
- Covering an area of 18,000 hectares, this project is expected to generate 1,400GWh of electricity.
- Dubai-based renewables developer AMEA Power has been involved in several notable projects across Africa.
Ethiopia is on a path to hosting the Horn of Africa’s largest wind farm. This comes after the country signed an agreement with Dubai-based renewables developer AMEA Power to construct the energy plant in Somali Province, situated to the East of the continent’s second most populous country.
At an estimated cost of $620 million, Aysha Wind Power Project will not only bolster Ethiopia’s energy capacity but also mark a giant step towards sustainable development in the Horn of Africa region.
The letter-of-award for this monumental project was signed by Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s Finance Minister, and AMEA Power’s representatives …
- As climate tech gains momentum globally, off-grid solar provider d.light projects that over 500,000 customers will benefit from its loyalty program by December 2024.
- Under the deal, customers who make regular payments on their PayGo products will redeemed for discounts on future purchases and power tokens.
- One of the most notable innovations in the climate tech sector is the pay-as-you-go (PayGo) model, where customers pay for products in installments.
In a first in Africa, d.light, a global provider of solar-powered household products and affordable finance for low-income households, has launched a new customer loyalty program, targeting approximately 500,000 clients across Africa.
The plan, dubbed “d.light Points Program”, targets customers in Kenya, but the firm says it will be extending the offering in its Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria markets later this year.
Donal Connolly, Director of Credit at d.light, said, “Our customers have had a tough time lately. Months of high …
- This funds will support an estimated 235,000 households in Malawi’s Lower Shire and Southern regions.
- The ongoing El Niño phenomenon in Malawi is one of the worst on record that has wreaked havoc on families.
- By September 2024, a total of $62M in disaster risk insurance payouts will go to countries affected by El Niño in Southern Africa.
In the face of a roiling climate crisis, drought-hit families in Malawi have received a lifeline in the form of a $11.2 million insurance payout. This critical support, facilitated by the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group and the African Development Bank (AfDB), aims to help Malawi recover from the devastating effects of a severe drought brought on by the 2024 El Niño weather pattern.
The funds will help provide much-needed relief to hundreds of thousands of households across the Southern African country, highlighting the urgent need for proactive climate risk management strategies …
- This climate finance deficit presents a pressing challenge to Africa, as it directly affects the continent’s capacity to address critical climate-related issues.
- African governments must adopt innovative financing opportunities that blend public and private partnerships.
- Leaders from Africa, the Republic of Korea, and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) have jointly called for more collaboration and cooperation to bridge the climate finance gap
Climate finance
The climate finance gap has been a persistent topic of climate change discussions for the longest time. Despite a financing need exceeding $3 trillion by 2030, the continent receives merely about a 10th of its climate finance need, representing less than 5.5 per cent of the total global climate finance. This gap is felt especially keenly in countries like Uganda, which, despite being one of the many African countries committed to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), experiences a distinct lack of climate funding.
According to the …
- Bolt, TRÍ, and Watu have launched a pilot program in Tanzania to introduce electric Bajajis, aiming to enhance sustainable urban transportation and improve the economic well-being of drivers.
- This initiative reduces operational costs significantly, boosts driver earnings, and aligns with Tanzania’s green mobility efforts.
- The program includes comprehensive support and training for drivers, with plans for future expansion to foster broader adoption of eco-friendly vehicles.
In a move that is set to revolutionize Tanzania’s urban transportation, Bolt, TRÍ, and Watu Africa have joined forces to launch a pilot program featuring electric Bajajis. This collaboration not only promises to enhance sustainable mobility but also aims to improve the economic well-being of Tanzanian drivers.
As a leading ride-hailing platform, Bolt integrates electric Bajajis into its services, allowing drivers to seamlessly participate in this innovative program. This integration enhances operational efficiency and provides drivers with access to cost-effective vehicles, significantly increasing …
- World Environment Day 2024 marked under the theme “Our Land. Our Future. We are #GenerationRestoration,” highlights global efforts to restore degraded lands, combat desertification, and build drought resilience.
- Hosted by Saudi Arabia for the second time in over 50 years, the day amplified the Kingdom’s environmental goals, including the Saudi Green Initiative and Middle East Green Initiative, which seeks to plant 50 billion trees and achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030.
With a focus on restoring degraded lands, combatting desertification and building drought resilience, countries around the world came together today to mark World Environment Day 2024, under the rallying call ‘Our Land. Our Future. We are #Generation Restoration’.
On the biggest calendar moment for environmental action, the official celebrations hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia marked the second time in more than 50 years that World Environment Day has been hosted in the West Asia region. Faced with
- VFS Global Visa Processes saw a global substantial increase of 35 per cent
- The tourism sector saw a rebound in 2023, with global travel recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- VFS Global extended its strategic investments through signature programs in Indonesia, Thailand, and South Africa
VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions, achieved new sustainability targets according to its fifth edition of the Integrated Sustainability Report 2023.
Among key achievements in 2023 include a 35 per cent increase in the number of visa applications processed worldwide and other markets globally, as well as an expanded service portfolio by securing seven global contracts, including the UK Visa and Immigration, the Department of Home Affairs in Australia.
In 2023, global travel bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Middle East, EU region, and Africa emerging as the top performers, according to the UNWTO’s tourism …
- The World Bank has approved a $1.2 billion loan to support policy and institutional reforms to address structural constraints in Kenya’s public finances.
- On climate, the financing will support Kenya’s investments in green public transport systems.
- Kenya’s $1.2 billion DPO facility is funded through a combination of financial instruments
Kenya has received a loan of $1.2 billion ( about KES156 billion) from the World Bank to help the country address short-term fiscal pressures and accelerate green initiatives. The new $1.2 billion Kenya Fiscal Sustainability and Resilient Growth Development Policy Operation (DPO), is the first in a series of three.
According to the multilateral lender, it has been prepared under an improved macroeconomic environment following government action to address the challenges that had overshadowed the economy including tight liquidity pressures, depressed investor confidence and limited capital inflows that had resulted in a rapidly depreciating shilling.
A Development Policy Operation (DPO) is …
- Zeroe, a carbon management startup based in Dubai, offers a platform that helps streamline the flow of finance from the global North to the global South.
- The firm’s innovative solution provides comprehensive carbon accounting, and an AI-enabled decarbonization planner, making it easy and affordable for companies to measure and reduce their emissions.
- Zeroe is already working with businesses in the UAE and Indonesia and sees significant climate financing opportunities for growth in Africa, especially North West, North East, and Southern Africa.
Climate finance: “There is enough money; we just need to make it flow.” This statement by Lauren Haworth, Head of Marketing and Partnerships at Zeroe, succinctly captures the current state of climate finance. During an interview at the AIM Congress 2024, held in Abu Dhabi, she shared insights on the steady but insufficient growth in climate finance deployment, which reached over $1.2 trillion in 2022.
However, the challenge …
