The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Tuesday announced that its annual climate financing will triple to $5-billion dollars a year by 2020, which will increase its total new investments to 40% by 2020.
The Bank’s Climate Change Action Plan for the period of 2016-2020 will be more ambitious, said Kapi Kapoor, the acting VP for sector operations of the AfDB.
According to him, it would explore modalities for achieving the adaptation goal, the adequacy and effectiveness of climate finance, capacity building and technology transfer — building technical skills so that African economies can realise their full potential for adaptation in high-technology sectors.
The Bank through the Inter-Governmental Authority Development (IGAD) had supported the Drought Resilience Program in the Horn of Africa.
In the first phase, $125-million was approved for Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya to implement measures to alleviate the negative impact caused by the deteriorating environmental conditions in the Horn of Africa.
The Bank similarly approved $231-million to finance the Climate Resilience Program in the Sahel. Recently, the bank also approved over $500-million to support the fight against the effects of the El-Nino that hit many parts of Eastern and Southern Africa.
“Working through partnerships with banks and insurance providers across Africa, the bank aims to bring greater access of insurance and risk financing in order to leverage lending for agriculture to the tune of one billion dollars,” he said.
The AfDB has committed almost $7-billion dollars to support climate-resilient and low-carbon development in Africa in the past four years. Its energy investments last year delivered power that is 90% generated from renewable sources.
