President Akufo-Addo has urged world leaders to turn their words on climate change into actions, noting that “with the world in flames and under flood waters, the eyes of people everywhere will be on the decision-makers at COP27.”
According to him, leaders attending the 27th United Nations’ Climate Change Conference, commonly referred to as COP27, to be held from November 6 to 18, 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, have to deliver if they are to escape “the censure of history.”
Speaking at the Virtual Climate Adaptation Summit in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Monday, President Akufo-Addo said, “We are aware of the current geopolitical circumstances.”
“Food and energy security are at risk across the world; inflation is rapidly rising; and climate change threatens the progress we have made, especially in Africa. COVID-19, which resulted in sub-Saharan Africa’s first recession in some 25 years, is still hurting Africa,” he stated.
The President noted that Ghana was determined to push the COP27 to deliver on its commitment to double financing towards climate adaptation efforts on the continent.
In his view, financing climate adaptation makes economic sense, and is much more cost-effective “than paying the bills every time they are due, for increasingly frequent and severe climate shocks and disasters.”
He pointed out that the consequence of this would mean that a middle-income economy like Ghana stands to lose out to “the effects of more acute and frequent climate hazards.”
This is in spite of the significant progress made through the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme (AAAP), on climate emergency, he posited.
“Some 26 million people fell into extreme poverty, and 30 million jobs were lost due to the repercussions of the pandemic in Africa,” President Akufo-Addo indicated.
He added that Ghana was attempting to use its own fiscal resources to address these risks, pointing out that “the same is true for other African countries.”
He asserted, however, that the growing food and fuel crises were severely limiting the fiscal space of the country to respond effectively, “as the cost of borrowing goes up prohibitively, and access to the capital market tightens dramatically.”
“Africa contributes the least to the climate emergency, yet we are facing increasing and more intense climate-related extreme events. We are at a crossroads,” the President noted.
He continued, “If we want our continent to thrive, we have to adapt to climate change. And, to achieve this, adaptation financing needs to start flowing at scale. Climate action must not become another casualty of the complex geopolitical era that we are experiencing.”
AAAP
On the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme (AAAP), President Akufo-Addo said the AAAP, with its laser focus on food security, resilient infrastructure, climate finance, and youth employment, is Africa’s solution to the multiple crises it faces.
“The programme intends to mobilise some $25 billion over five years to scale up and accelerate adaptation action. The African Development Bank has, in a truly laudable gesture, committed to providing half of this amount. This is evidence that Africa has the leadership and determination to engage in solutions to her problems,” he stated.
He said, “Africa needs its friends from across the world, also, to scale up their support for concrete adaptation solutions, delivered through the AAAP. We expect these friends to manifest their solidarity and friendship by delivering the other half, just as we believe that the time is due for the developed countries to make good on their one hundred-billion-dollar (US$100 billion) pledge for climate adaptation.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu