Africa remains vulnerable of greenhouse emissions (photo by Michael Ainomugisha)
Did you know Africa uses upto $18.3 billion to curb the effects of climate change?
According to African Development Bank (AfDB)’s acting chief economist,Kevin Urama, African nations received around $18.3 billion in climate finance between 2016 and 2019.
This has influenced the GDP of Africa that is reducing between 5% to 15% of its per capita economic growth due the effects of climate change and is facing a gaping climate finance shortfall.
In Africa, it should be noted that the continent has been hit extremely hard by the fallout from climate change, which has aggravated droughts, flooding and cyclones across the continent in recent years.
Kevin Urama further noted that the incomes are staring down a nearly $1.3 trillion climate finance gap for the 2020 to 2030 period. These sums reflect how the crisis is," Urama said. "Investing in climate adaptation in the context of sustainable development is the best way to cope with the climate change.
“These sums reflect how the crisis is," Urama said. "Investing in climate adaptation in the context of sustainable development is the best way to cope with climate change."
African ministers meeting in Cairo last week ahead of November's COP27 climate summit decried the lack of support which they said had resulted in the continent benefiting from less than 5.5% of global climate financing.
According to the African development bank group’s website “Africa, despite its low contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, remains the most vulnerable continent with scenarios approximately above 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
Mozambique, Malawi,Ghana and Madagascar are the most vulnerable countries to climate change in Africa.
UNEP-commissioned research estimates that the cost of adapting to climate change across Africa could reach $50 billion a year by 2050, if the global temperature increase is kept within 2°C above pre industrial levels.
According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), it will need investments of over $3 trillion in mitigation and adaptation by 2030 in order to implement its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC’s)
However, it should be noted that climate change also provides opportunities for Africa to utilise its huge resource potential to achieve the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. Addressing climate change in Africa will create significant market opportunities on the continent, especially for the private sector and institutional investors.
Report by Michael Ainomugisha
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