Germany has committed €40 million to the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group’s Climate Action Window, German State Secretary for Economic Cooperation and Development, Jochen Flasbarth, has said.
In a statement issued by the Communication and External Relations Department of the AfDB, the contribution is to support climate adaptation in fragile African states.
Flasbarth said this at a ministerial panel for climate-vulnerable countries and champions of adaptation finance at the 27th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27).
The conference is being held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
According to the statement, the High Ambition Coalition organised the session entitled “Putting good quality adaptation finance in the spotlight at COP27”.
Flasbarth commended the AfDB Group for its relentless commitment to help Africa mitigate and adapt to climate change.
“The African Development Bank has a very good reputation,” he said.
The state secretary said the contribution by Germany was part of its efforts to balance parity in funding between climate mitigation and adaptation.
“All our countries have challenges to get the right balance between adaption and mitigation, but we want to do that.
“We want to look at the quality of adaptation finance, and we must look at the accessibility to climate finance, specifically for developing countries’ nationally determined contributions.”
Also, the AfDB Group President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, thanked Germany for believing in Africa and for having confidence in the bank group.
Adesina told Flasbarth that the funds would be put to good use.
He said: “the climate action you are putting your money in will enable 20 million farmers, including pastoralists, to access weather-indexed insurance.
“It will provide 20 million farmers with climate-resilient agriculture technologies and regenerate a million hectares of degraded land.
“It will also allow for investment in 840 billion cubic meters of water for 18 million people, and provide renewable energy for 10 million people,” he said.
The AfDB’s president spoke on several measures and initiatives that the bank group had to help ease climate impact in Africa, particularly on food production.
He mentioned the Africa Disaster Risk Insurance Facility, which protected farmers against external disasters.
He further called on other industrialised countries to contribute to the Climate Action Window to boost climate adaptation in Africa.
“Africa is choking, Africa is suffering, and Africa is in great distress because of climate change which it did not cause. So, we don’t have a choice but to adapt to it,” Adesina said.
The panel included ministers from Africa, Europe and the Caribbean.
They backed calls for increased financing for climate adaptation in Africa and called on industrialised countries to deliver on their $100 billion-a-year pledge without further delay.
According to the statement, the Climate Action Window is an initiative of the African Development Fund, the AfDB Group’s concessional lending window, to low-income African states.
It is mobilising up to $13 billion for climate adaptation for some 37 low-income and fragile states.
By Temitope Ponle
