ADB launches fund to cushion impact of climate change

The African Development Bank has announced it will scale up climate change financing to $5 Billion by 2020 as it notches the Green Climate Fund (GCF) accreditation.

According to a release by AfDB, the bank secured the accreditation as a multilateral implementing entity and intermediary to the GCF.

The GCF is a fund within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) founded as a mechanism to assist developing countries to adapt and militate against the adverse effects of climate change.

Alex Rugamba, energy, environment and climate change director and chair of AfDB climate change coordination committee elaborated on the financing deal.

“AfDB is committed to significantly scale-up its climate finance to US $5 billion per year by 2020 to support adaptation and mitigation challenges in Africa. Partnering with the GCF will be essential to meet this target. Not only will AfDB be able to help channel new GCF resources, it can also blend GCF funding with AfDB’s own resources, or with other third-party financing.”

Investments through the fund will target priority areas such as expanding sustainable climate-smart agriculture, transforming energy generation and increasing energy access, scaling-up finance for forest protection, and enhancing resilience of small island developing states

The fund is coming at a time the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Fourth Assessment, observed that climate change will negatively impact Africa’s economic activities and exacerbates its current development challenges.

According to a climate change funding report, written by Louis Bockel, David Phiri, and Marianne Tinlot for Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), while Africa needs billions of dollars yearly to address climate change impact, none of the climate change funds is hosted in Africa.

Between 2011 and 2015, as part of its Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), AfDB mobilized approximately $12 billion of climate finance to support climate-resilient and low-carbon development in Africa.

With new GCF funds coming on stream, African countries will have additional resources to access.

ISAAC ANYAOGU