Climate change costs Africa 15% GDP: AfDB
Africa has been losing from five per cent to 15 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita growth because of climate change and its related impacts, African multilateral development finance institution said on Tuesday.
Africa needed 1.6 trillion dollars between 2022 and 2030 to meet its nationally determined contributions (NDCs), Group Acting Chief Economist and Vice President, African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Kevin Urama, said in a statement posted on AfDB website.
“Collectively, African countries received only 18.3 billion dollars in climate finance between 2016 and 2019. This results in a climate finance gap of up to 1288.2 billion dollars annually from 2020 to 2030.
“Climate change affects Africa severely, while the continent contributes to only three per cent of global emissions,” said Urama.
He reiterated the need for the global community to meet its 100-billion-dollar commitment to help the developing countries and African economies to mitigate the impacts of climate change and to adapt to it.
“Investing in climate adaptation in the context of sustainable development is the best way to cope with the climate change impacts; gas must remain included in the continent’s plan for the gradual transition to clean energy,” he said.
He also affirmed that Africa had great potential in terms of green investment opportunities that the private sector, including banks, could tap into.
