World failing to meet climate goals, COP28 president warns
Sultan Al Jaber stressed the urgency of delivering results in a timely manner as the world experiences extreme weather events more frequently.
In Short
- Africa only receives about 12% of the necessary financing
- UAE pledged $4.5 billion to develop 15 GW of clean power in Africa
- Germany also committed 450 million euros ($482.31 million) in financing
The president of the upcoming COP28 summit, Sultan Al Jaber, has warned that the world is failing to meet its climate change goals.
Speaking at the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, Jaber stressed the urgency of delivering results in a timely manner. The summit, which began on Monday, aims to mobilize financing for Africa's response to climate change.
Despite being severely impacted by climate change, Africa only receives about 12% of the necessary financing to cope with these effects. However, significant investments in sustainable development projects were announced at the summit.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) pledged $4.5 billion to develop 15 GW of clean power in Africa by 2030, a significant increase from the continent's current 60 GW of installed renewables capacity.
Germany also committed 450 million euros ($482.31 million) in financing, including 60 million for a green hydrogen project in Kenya. The United States pledged $30 million to support climate resilience and food security efforts.
African officials have welcomed these investments but stress that meeting the continent's financing needs will require a transformation of the global climate financing architecture.
They are advocating for the expansion of special drawing rights at the International Monetary Fund, which could unlock $500 billion worth of climate finance.
Kenyan President William Ruto called for a "conversation" about a carbon tax to finance development. Joseph Ng'ang'a, appointed by Ruto to lead the summit's secretariat, proposed a carbon tax collected from fuel suppliers, which would relieve governments of the domestic political pressure against taxing fossil fuel consumption.
Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, suggested that Africa's natural wealth, such as its carbon-sequestering forests, should be considered when calculating its economic output. This would facilitate African countries' access to debt financing.
However, Majid Al Suwaidi, COP28's director general, expressed concern over the slow progress in implementing a loss and damage fund agreed at last year's COP27 to aid poor countries affected by climate disasters.
He urged countries to make early commitments to capitalize the fund.