Africa Climate Summit Latest: Bezos Fund Pledge, EU Grant

(Bloomberg) -- The Bezos Earth Fund on Tuesday announced $22.8 million in funding to help accelerate the restoration of two areas in Africa that are seen as critical for carbon sequestration, biodiversity and human wellbeing.

The grants will fund the rehabilitation of 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of degraded land in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, Bezos Earth Fund President and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Steer said at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, the East African nation’s capital. It will also fund the restoration of the Lake Kivu and Rusizi River Basin in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, part of the world’s second-largest rain forest and home to five million people, he said.

The funding forms part of the Earth Fund’s $1 billion commitment to landscape restoration globally.

Tanzania Needs $9.9 Billion for Climate Adaption (Sept. 5, 6:20 p.m.)

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said her country will need 9.9 billion dollars for climate adaptation over the next three years and will engage potential investors in November.

She spoke at the launch of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program Investment Compacts at the Nairobi summit. The compacts are country-specific investment plans for adaptation projects.

EU Pledges Funding for Kenya’s Green Hydrogen Plan (Sept. 5, 5 p.m.)

The European Commission pledged almost €12 million ($12.9 million) in grants to finance Kenya’s green hydrogen industry, a day after the country unveiled a plan to use the resource to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a third and achieve a 100% renewable electricity system by 2030.

Kenya’s green hydrogen plans “will help cut emissions, support a strategic industry for the country’s future and boost its export capacity towards partners like the EU,” Ursula von der Leyen, the commission’s president, said in a statement. 

Kenya to Host Climate Adaption Centre (Sept. 5, 1:15 p.m.)

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,” he said in a speech at the summit.

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, Ruto 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,” Von der Leyen, told the summit. “We are ready to share our expertise with your teams on how to develop your own green bond markets.”

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 summit. “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 UN 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.

Africa may need an almost 10-fold 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.

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