[ ] 4 A Bet ter Wor ld Moving from rhetoric to action: African Development Bank’s leadership in financing climate adaptation in Africa Balgis Osman Elasha, James Kinyangi, Fekadu Shimelis, Sonia Borrini and Fadekunayo Adeniyi African Development Bank Africa is warming faster than the rest of the world. The surface temperature on the continent has increased more rapidly than the global average, and this is expected to continue in the future as well. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report found that climate change is causing an increase of mean temperatures and hot extremes, more frequent marine heat waves, and a faster rate of sealevel rise. At the same time, the frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation events are projected to increase almost everywhere in Africa. The Sahara, the Horn of Africa and Central Africa are projected to have heavier precipitation and corresponding increases in pluvial flooding, while the Southern and Eastern Africa are projected to experience higher tropical wind speeds and more Category 4-5 cyclones. Sea-level rises will continue, contributing to increases in the frequency and severity of coastal flooding and accelerated coastal erosion. This relatively higher exposure of Africa superimposed with the sensitivity of the economy, livelihoods, and infrastructures of the region and low adaptive capacity of its population means that Africa’s vulnerability to climate change will certainly and progressively continue impacting its progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. These impacts are felt economy-wide and estimates of the cost range between US$7 to US$15 billion per year. The cost of climate actions, as presented in the intended nationally determined contributions (NDCs) submitted by 53 African countries, is estimated at US$3.5 to US$4 trillion by 2030. Furthermore, the costs of adaptation for Africa are estimated to amount to US$35 billion by 2050 and could be as high as seven per cent of the continent’s GDP by 2100. Reactive and anticipatory adaptation measures will certainly entail substantial cost to Africa, though the cost of inaction is expected to be immense. AfDB’s leadership of Africa’s response to climate change African Development Bank (AfDB) holds a unique position as the leading pan-African development finance institution and as a trusted partner among the regional member countries, making it instrumental for Africa’s climate response. Its measures and initiatives to accelerate Africa’s transition to a resilient and green economy are broadly directed to upstream, midstream and downstream actions. AfDB launched its systematic response soon after the UN Rio+20 conference in 2012, issuing a 10-year strategy in which the green economy was embedded as one of two strategic objectives. Subsequently, AfDB issued a green growth framework to guide Bank-wide actions. It further consolidated its priorities into High 5 Agendas: Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa and improve the quality of life of every African. Through the implementation of the High 5 Agendas, AfDB is committed to supporting the climate actions of African countries. The Bank also created the Climate Change and Green Growth Department to spearhead its efforts on climate change and green growth. AfDB’s climate action over the last decade is guided by two medium-term climate action plans, the first and second Climate Change Action Plans (CCAP1 and 2), which covered objectives for 2011-2015 and 2016-2020, respectively. CCAP2 was predicated on four pillars and aimed to consolidate the Bank’s lead role in addressing climate change in Africa. The first pillar aims to boost adaptation and climate-resilient development in Africa by assisting regional member countries to effectively integrate adaptation into key economic sectors and help realize the adaptation aspirations set out in their NDCs, as well as to ensure a link with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. The second pillar aims to promote mitigation and low-carbon development in Africa. AfDB recognizes Africa’s minimal contribution to global emissions. Nevertheless, the Bank strongly believes that ensuring low-carbon trajectory through, among other things, maximizing investments in clean energy, sustainable management of natural resources, and deploying technological solutions, will ensure the long-term sustainability of economic and social progress of the region. The third pillar aims to scale up financing for climate action in regional member countries. AfDB is committed to allocate 40 per cent of its total annual approvals and various sources as climate finance by 2020 and to maintain the same post-2020. Cognizant of the critical role of adaptation in Africa, the Bank further set an objective of closing the
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