Climate change finance, natural capital accounting by African countries are the top agenda for the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the continent at this year’s United Nations climate change conference, COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, as African nations ramping up efforts to tackle climate change.
This year’s summit, themed, “Finance COP,” hopes to see countries negotiate fresh climate finance target. The AfDB aims to mobilize additional resources at COP29 for climate action in Africa and launch a bold new approach to assessing African economies by including their “green wealth.”
Africa receives only 3-4% of global climate finance despite accounting for nine of the world’s 10 most vulnerable countries to climate change. Significantly, boosting the share of climate finance directed toward African nations is one of the major reasons for the Bank’s presence at COP29, the AFDB noted.
“There is no reason why Africa should be greenly poor. Africa should be greenly wealthy by proper valuation of its vast contributions to global environmental services,” AfDB President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said during a meeting of African Ministers of finance, economy, foreign affairs, climate change, and environment in the run-up to COP29.
To achieve this green wealth, Adesina is advocating for recalibrating the GDP of African countries to reflect natural assets like forests and carbon sinks. This recalibration could reveal a significantly higher GDP, better reflecting Africa’s environmental contributions.
A statement by the Bank noted that the upcoming COP29 summit will provide a platform for African leaders to introduce “Measuring the Green Wealth of Africa,” an initiative that could redefine African economies.
According to the AFDB’s preliminary estimates, adjusting for carbon sequestration alone could have boosted Africa’s nominal GDP in 2022 by $66.1 billion—a 2.2% increase. Six Congo Basin countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon) accounted for nearly 64% of this increase.
“That means that the countries can have larger headroom to take on more financing and invest them for the greening of their economies. Therefore, such a move is important for re-computing Africa’s debt sustainability,” Adesina said, even as he also called for the outcome of the heads of state summit at COP to be presented before the African Union Summit next year.
On Wednesday, November 13, the African Development Fund’s Climate Action Window will host a session to discuss how to unlock climate finance for Africa’s vulnerable communities via this critical arm of the Bank Group. The Climate Action Window was established under its 16th replenishment cycle to help fill Africa’s significant climate finance gap.
Similarly, other high-level events include Wednesday’s Measuring the Green Wealth of African Nations, which will be attended by heads of state and government. It will be followed by the launch of a report about Green Wealth. The Bank will host an event to rally support for Mission 300, a joint undertaking with the World Bank Group and partners to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030.
