Africa losing 5% of GDP due to climate crisis, says Simon Stiell

Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), says African countries are losing five percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) due to climate change.

In a statement on Thursday, Stiell described climate action as the greatest economic opportunity of this century.

Stiell said the continent has been warming at a faster rate than the global average, adding that Africans “pay the heaviest price”.

The executive secretary said cooking with traditional fuels emits greenhouse gases, which is roughly equivalent to global aviation or shipping.

This, he said, contributes to 3 million premature deaths per year. He added that it would cost $4 billion annually to fix this issue in Africa.

“Climate action can and should be the single greatest opportunity for Africa, to lift up people, communities, and economies after centuries of exploitation and neglect,” he said.

“The opportunity is immense. But so too are the costs for African nations of unchecked global heating.

“In Africa, as in all regions, the climate crisis is an economic sinkhole, sucking the momentum out of economic growth. In fact, many African nations are losing up to 5 percent of GDP as a result of climate impacts.

“Consider food production being hit hard, contributing to the re-emergence of famine, while also pushing up global prices, and with them inflation and the cost of living.

“Desertification and habitat destruction are driving forced movements of people. Supply chains are already being hit hard by spiraling climate impacts.

“But if the climate and economic crises are globally interlinked. So too are the solutions. So it’s time to flip the script. From potential climate tipping points to exponential changes in business, investment, and growth.”

“AFRICA’S EPIDEMIC OF UNDERINVESTMENT”

Stiell said linking nature-based climate solutions with biodiversity protection and land restoration will drive progress across the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).

“Yet African nations’ vast potential to drive forward climate solutions is being thwarted by an epidemic of underinvestment,” he added.

“Of the more than $400 billion spent on clean energy last year, only $2.6 billion went to African nations.”

The UN boss said renewable energy investment in Africa needs to grow at least fivefold by 2030.

He said at the upcoming COP29 in Baku, nations must agree to a new international climate finance goal and ensure that it is “grounded in the needs of developing countries”.

“Domestic action and domestic finance will remain crucial. But, alone, it is not enough. More support, including more international climate finance is needed,” he said.

“In Baku, we must finally get international carbon markets under Article 6 working. We must make the Loss and Damage Fund operational.

“And we must ensure goals on adaptation are realized, financed, and capable of being met. Closing the adaptation finance gap is essential.

“The climate actions nations choose should be embedded in the new generation of national climate plans – NDCs – due early next year. And in National Adaptation Plans every country must have.”