The African Development Bank (AfDB) says the continent is losing up to 15 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth to climate change and related impacts.
Kevin Urama, AfDB’s acting chief economist and vice-president, said this on Wednesday during a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Egypt International Cooperation Forum (Egypt-ICF 2022) in Cairo.
Urama urged developed nations to fulfil their commitment by bridging the “climate financing gap”.
To close the gap, he said about $1.6 trillion is needed between 2022 and 2030 to meet the continent’s nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
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“Collectively, African countries received only $18.3 billion in climate finance between 2016 and 2019,” Urama said.
“This results in a climate finance gap of up $1288.2 billion annually from 2020 to 2030.”
“These sums reflect how the crisis is. Climate change affects Africa severely, while the continent contributes to only 3% of global emissions.”
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Urama advised the global community to meet its $100 billion commitment to help developing countries mitigate the impacts of climate change.
At a United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009 (COP 15), rich nations promised to channel $100 billion annually to developing countries by 2020 to help them adapt to climate change and mitigate further rises in temperature. But that pledge has only ever been partially met.
The development is contributing to agitations ahead of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt.
Last week, African leaders met for a sharp expansion of climate financing for the continent while pushing back against an abrupt move away from fossil fuels.
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The AfDB’s chief economist called for investments in climate adaptation in the context of sustainable development, describing it as the best way to cope with the climate change impacts, adding that gas must remain in the plan for a gradual transition to clean energy.
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