Dissecting Africa's bold climate finance plan

Patrick Verkooijen, Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) global CEO when he visited the Ngai Ndethya sand dam in Kibwezi East. [Stephen Nzioka, Standard]

Through the upcoming Africa Climate Summit, Africa aims to propose ambitious ideas for a new global climate finance structure to tackle Africa's debt distress and inadequate resource allocation for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

To break free from this cycle, Africa urges multinational development banks to rethink their lending and debt management strategies. The goal is to prevent further debt distress in African and other global south nations while advancing climate change efforts.

CS Environment Soipan Tuya disclosed that the summit will convince multinational development banks to reconsider Africa's debt approach, enabling African countries to tackle climate change challenges without burdensome debt.

The proposed global climate finance architecture aims to be timely, responsive, and effective worldwide. The summit intends to highlight Africa's vast resources, positioning it as a global solution provider for climate change, breaking away from the traditional victim status.

African leaders and policymakers are actively engaging in discussions to establish their position on financial architecture. The envisioned instrument will have universal reach, mobilising annual investments to achieve emissions reduction targets by 2050

The proposed financial architecture includes mechanisms to hold polluters more accountable, such as implementing a global financial transaction tax, a global fossil fuel tax, and aviation and monetized levies. Importantly, these measures will apply globally, ensuring a fair distribution of responsibility.

architecture includes allocating funds based on achieving the highest climate impacts in areas of greatest need. The focus will be on both mitigation and adaptation outcomes, balancing current challenges with investments in future innovations.

The proposal also dedicates a portion of funds to technological innovation to reduce the cost of climate technologies and make them more accessible on a global scale.