Paris Agreement provides impetus for green growth in Africa

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2 April, 2016 –  Scaling up ambition for decarbonized development pathways, aligning Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with national development plans and ensuring sufficient, accessible finance for implementation were among the key strategies recommended for Africa to accelerate its green growth potential post Paris.

A panel discussion on The Paris Agreement: Implications for Green Growth in Africa held here today during Africa Development Week hosted by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Union (AU) said the Paris Climate Change Agreement provides the impetus for a new model of green growth in Africa.

Panelist, Fatima Denton, Director of the ECA Special Initiatives Division said “There is much talk of ratcheting up ambition in terms of lowering greenhouse gas emissions, while Africa is not a significant emitter, there is an opportunity to intensify ambition for growth and to address energy poverty on the continent.”

She said she said the green growth model has significant opportunities but the right incentive structures need to be put in place citing the example of Ethiopia which has decoupled economic growth with fossil fuel use and “is far advanced in terms of its ambition and action.”

Panelist, H.E Mr. Kare Chawicha, State Minister, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ethiopia said that his country’s Climate Resilient Green Economy strategy will facilitate Ethiopia’s middle income status by 2025 “while maintaining net zero carbon emissions at 2010 levels.”

“We believe there are great opportunities in growing our country in a way which is green; from clean energy sources through hydropower, wind, geothermal and other. We have embarked on ensuring that we not only become energy self-sufficient, but are also about to become a net exporter, so as to avoid the shocks of climate change due to fossil fuel price fluctuations,” he said.

Mr. Desta Mebratu, Deputy Director, UNEP Regional Office for Africa (ROA) said the Paris Agreement was “a major turning point” on how adaptation and mitigation are addressed. He noted that Africa has the “highest leapfrogging opportunity” in the post Paris context which also provides an opportunity for “mapping the future”.

The panel discussion, co-organized by the ECA; the African Union Commission (AUC); the African Development Bank (AfDB); the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is timely given the imminent signing of the global climate agreement later this month following its approval last December by 196 Parties on the means and mechanisms to combat climate change.

For Africa the period in lead up to 2020, when the Agreement comes into force, provides an opportunity for countries to align their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with national development plans and strategies to ensure that they achieve the dual objective of controlling global warming while safeguarding pathways to sustainable development.

It was noted that some African countries have NDCS that are more ambitious than developed countries but no enforcement mechanisms exist for NDC implementation.

Panelists agreed that financing implementation had been an intractable issue in the Paris negotiation and noted that green growth requires large up front investments for sectors such as agriculture, water, energy and sanitation.

They suggested a number of financing options including but not limited to private sector investment, multilateral banks, sovereign wealth funds, the Green Climate Fund as well domestic resource mobilization.  Ms. Amel Makhlouf, Senior advisor in Climate Change, Energy, Energetic Efficiency, and Renewable Energy in Tunisia recommended that a platform be developed to track sources of climate finance, provide the guidelines to access the funds in order to support rapid implementation.

 Mr. Mebratu noted  that mechanisms to support implementation exist citing the example of the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), the operational arm of the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism, a platform to support implementation. “Africa must prepare itself to make use of the resources as the mechanisms exist,” he said.

Ambassador Ayo Olukanni, Vice Chairman, Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE), Nigeria said it was important that the Paris Agreement be domesticated to the grassroots level.

Panel Chair, Mrs. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union Commission (AUC) said “Paris didn’t give us everything we want but it does provide an opportunity for Africa to reposition itself to look inwards and outwards and domesticate the Agreement.”  

The African Development Week, concludes on 5 April.

Background

African Development Week was officially launched Thursday paving way for discussion around Africa’s economy, regional integration, investment and related issues. Major highlights of the week include the launching of the ECA’s flagship Economic Report for Africa 2016, country profiles, the Africa Governance Report, among others.

African Development Week is running under the theme; “Towards and Integrated and Coherent Approach to The Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of Agenda 2063, and the Sustainable Development Goals.”

More than 1,000 high level delegates are expected to attend various events connected to the week, including the Ninth Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union Specialized Technical Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration and the ECA Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

For more information about the African Development Week and to access its publications, please visit www.uneca.org.

Issued by:

Economic Commission for Africa

PO Box 3001

Addis Ababa

Ethiopia

Tel: +251 11 551 5826

E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org