Kenya will host the Africa headquarters of the Global Center on Adaptation, President William Ruto said.
(Bloomberg) — Kenya will host the Africa headquarters of the Global Center on Adaptation, President William Ruto said.
“The center is intended to inspire the world to thrive with nature instead of pursuing the dangerous course of seeking to thrive at nature’s expense,” Ruto said in a speech at the Africa Climate summit in the capital, Nairobi.
The center will spearhead the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program, a collaboration between the University of Nairobi, the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission as part of the continent’s response to the climate crisis, he said.
EU Pledges Help to Build African Green Bond Market (Sept. 5, 12:40 p.m.)
The European Union will help Africa develop its green bond market as the continent seeks to finance its energy transition.
“Europe has the biggest and most advanced green bond market in the world,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the bloc’s executive, said in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday. “We are ready to share our expertise with your teams on how to develop your own green bond markets.”
Read More: EU Pledges Help to Build African Green Bond Market
Guterres Calls for Global Financial System ‘Course Correction’ (Sept. 5, 11:40 a.m.)
The global financial system needs a “course correction” so that it supports accelerated climate action in the context of sustainable development, United Nation’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
“This means ensuring an effective debt-relief mechanism that supports payment suspensions, longer lending terms, and lower rates,” Guterres said in a speech at the Africa Climate Summit in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday. “It means re-capitalizing and changing the business model of multilateral development banks so they can massively leverage private finance at affordable rates to help developing countries build truly sustainable economies.”
Guterres urged developed nations to present a roadmap to double adaptation finance by 2025, and to commit to reaching net zero emissions as close as possible to 2040, while emerging economies should do so as close as possible to 2050. Developed nations should also provide $100 billion a year to developing countries for climate support, and fully replenish the Green Climate Fund, he said.
UAE Pledges $4.5 Billion to Help Finance Africa Climate Projects (Sept. 5, 9:44 a.m.)
The United Arab Emirates, the host of this year’s United Nations climate summit, pledged $4.5 billion to help African nations accelerate clean-energy projects.
Abu Dhabi’s clean-energy producer Masdar, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Etihad Credit Insurance, the nation’s export credit agency, and AMEA Power, a Dubai-based renewable-energy company, will provide the funds, the COP28 Presidency said in a statement on Tuesday.
Africa may need an almost tenfold increase in climate adaptation funding to $100 billion a year to help bolster infrastructure and shield its agriculture from climate change, the Global Center on Adaptation said. While the continent produces only about 4% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, its nations are among those hardest hit by climate change.
Read More: UAE Pledges $4.5 Billion to Help Finance Africa Climate Projects
Germany Backs Kenya Hydrogen Among Africa Climate Pledges (Sept. 5, 05:15 a.m.)
Germany will announce €450 million ($486 million) of climate finance pledges at the inaugural Africa climate summit including backing the construction of a fertilizer plant in Kenya using green hydrogen.
Europe’s largest economy will provide a €60 million loan for the Kenyan project in Olkaria, where geothermal energy could be used to split hydrogen from water molecules, providing fuel for the fertilizer plant. It will also cancel €60 million of debt owed to Kenya in exchange for the money being spent on renewable energy and climate-friendly agriculture, according to Barbel Kofler, state secretary to Germany’s economic cooperation minister.
Read More: Germany Backs Kenya Hydrogen Among Africa Climate Pledges
–With assistance from Eric Ombok, Lyubov Pronina and Bella Genga.
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