Browsing: Climate finance

• As COP29 starts in Baku, Azerbaijan, African nations are set to drive the climate agenda, focusing on climate finance and redefining economic metrics to recognize the continent’s green assets.
• Africa’s ‘green wealth’ push seeks to quantify Africa’s contributions to global environmental health, valuing its vast carbon sinks, natural resources, and ecosystems.
• This initiative, led by the AfDB in an alliance with the Republic of Congo and Kenya, could reshape Africa’s economic standing.

The annual United Nations climate conference, COP29, opens with a strong emphasis on climate finance, especially for developing nations that bear a disproportionate burden of climate change impacts.

At the forefront, African nations are pushing for increased funding and support, which is essential to advancing their National Adaptation Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions as outlined in the Paris Agreement.

This year, Africa, represented by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and a coalition of governments, is …

• In Africa, climate resilience is limited due to socio-economic vulnerabilities and limited adaptive capacity.
• The UNEP report calls for an accelerated increase in adaptation efforts and finance to address the mounting risks, particularly in developing nations.
• In 2022, adaptation finance for developing countries rose to $28 billion, a far cry from the $187-$359 billion per year required to bridge the gap by 2030.

As the global climate crisis intensifies, the impacts are hitting vulnerable regions hardest, with Africa bearing the brunt of devastating consequences.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Adaptation Gap Report 2024, average global temperatures will rise by 2.6-3.1°C above pre-industrial levels by the century’s end, far exceeding the 1.5°C threshold agreed upon in the Paris Agreement.

This rise in temperature translates to increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and heat waves. These impacts are currently felt acutely in …

• 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 …

• President Samia Suluhu Hassan highlighted the need for international commitment to climate agreements and innovative financing, including a $700 million green bond initiative for adaptation and mitigation strategies while representing Tanzania at COP28.
• Through the African Group of Negotiators, African nations pushed for a just energy transition and increased climate financing, advocating for the right to use fossil fuels for development before transitioning to renewable energy sources.
• Global leaders recognized Africa’s climate adaptation needs, with significant pledges such as the UK’s GBP 1.5 billion commitment for adaptation in Africa by 2025 and the African Development Bank Group’s initiative to mobilize $14 billion for low-income African countries.

Tanzania at COP28

Tanzanian President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan played a pivotal role at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, where she emphasized the critical need for the international community to fulfil unmet commitments related to climate change. Her speech brought to the fore …

A considerable gap exists between symbol and substance regarding an African climate change approach. Foreign leaders often nod to how Africa accounts for only four per cent of global emissions but bears the brunt of the devastating climate change effects. Rising temperatures, extreme weather conditions, and ecosystem disruptions threaten millions of Africans’ livelihoods.

For many communities across the continent, the climate threat is already existential. With 18 per cent of the global population, Africa has 16 of the 20 countries most vulnerable to climate change, according to Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative.…

The calls for concrete, concomitant, and substantive actions against carbon emissions are not an exaggeration. The effects of climate change are obvious, even for the casual observer to see. Presently a devastating hurricane, Ian has made landfall on the United States coast of Florida. The tropical storm which tore through Cuba and made landfall in the United States a day ago has reportedly left an estimated 2.5 million people without electricity.

NBC News called hurricane Ian one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States. The hurricane it is said, has caused devastation and flooding that has left residents of Miami and Florida trapped in their homes. Hurricane Ian has been described as a category 4 hurricane with speeds of as much as 150 miles per hour or 240 kilometres per hour. Speeds like that make such a storm a threat to life and property. President Joe …

The United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference COP 25, has levitated the climate action landscape in Africa

This has led to the African Development Bank (AfDB) to join forces with 11 other international organizations to assist developing countries to build resilience against the impact of natural disasters caused by extreme weather.

The initiative comes at a rather perfect moment, especially when the region is faced with unprecedented catastrophic weather events affecting the continent’s economy.

According to AfDB, the institutions came together at the COP 25 climate change conference in Madrid on Tuesday to launch the Alliance for Hydromet Development.

Alliance for Hydromet Development

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Alliance for Hydromet (hydrological and climate services) Development brings together major international development, humanitarian and climate finance institutions, collectively committed to scale up and unite efforts to close the hydromet capacity gap by 2030. It aims to increase …