Energy: AfDB To Assist With Nigeria’s Transition Efforts, To Double Africa’s Climate Finance To $25bn

The African Development Bank (AfDB) says it will within the next five years double the climate change finance of Africa to 25 billion dollars.

Dr Kevin Kariuki, AfDB Vice-President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, said this at a virtual news conference on Wednesday in preparation for the bank’s 2022 annual meetings to be held in Accra, Ghana.

Kariuki said the bank would invest the finance to support African countries to become resilient both in adaptation and mitigation between 2020 and 2025.

He disclosed that the AfDB had in the last five years spent 13 billion dollars in the same effort toward adaptation and mitigation of climate change in the continent.

Kariuki also said the bank with the Global Centre on Adaptation had committed to mobilise a further 25 billion dollars to address adaptation in Africa.

”Cognisance of the fact that Africa’s greatest interest is on adaptation, we dedicate at least 50 per cent of our climate finance budget to adaptation and last year we dedicated 67 per cent.

”This means that we are in total resonance of what people of Africa are complaining about.

”The key thing is to help these countries adapt to the impact of climate change so I think the commitment for us to double our climate change finance to 25 billion dollars is important,” he said.

On supporting energy transition in Nigeria, Kariuki said the bank was committed to supporting the country in its energy transition efforts.

According to him, Nigeria is one of the few countries that has evolved it’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) into a long-term vision, which is a foundational document for developing a long term strategy.