Africa can help 'decarbonize' the global economy, Kenya's president tells AFP June 6, 2024

Earlier this year, Kenya was hit by exceptionally heavy rains, causing a trail of destruction and flooding entire villages © LUIS TATO / AFP

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Africa can help 'decarbonize' the global economy, Kenya's president tells AFP

Kenyan President William Ruto told AFP on Wednesday that Africa can help decarbonize the global economy - but developed countries need to step up with serious investment to help unlock the continent's potential.

In Seoul for a major summit this week, where South Korea pledged $24 billion in aid and investment support for Africa, Ruto called on rich countries to do more: from better financing to technology transfers to fund clean energy transitions.

“We are seeing the effects of climate change everywhere,” he told AFP, pointing to the recent experience of Kenya, which went from extreme drought to devastating floods.

Africa wants “to be part of the solution” but is being left out of some climate efforts, he said, referring to recent historic levels of investment in renewable energy, only a fraction of which has gone to Africa.

“There is a need for greater investment on the African continent to unlock Africa's potential, not necessarily to benefit Africa alone,” he said.

“We can use the renewable energy assets we have, the mineral resources we have, the human capital we have on our African continent to decarbonize not only our production and consumption but global consumption and production,” he said.

This requires “an international financial architecture that gives the countries that suffer the most and have contributed the least the best possible chance to be resilient and adapt,” he said.

“And that's why we've been pushing the international financial architecture to be much more agile, much more flexible and provide resources to countries in the developing world, especially in Africa... because at the moment we're paying about five, six or seven times more than our colleagues elsewhere.”

One of the main topics of conversation at the Korea-Africa summit was, he said, for Seoul to provide more funding “so that more countries can have resources for mitigation, adaptation, and management of the effects of climate change”.

In 2009, developed nations pledged to mobilize US$100 billion a year by 2020 to help low-income countries invest in clean energy and deal with the worsening effects of climate change.

They reached this target for the first time in 2022, two years later than promised, the OECD said last week.

Ruto said that “100 billion dollars is a step in the right direction”, but added that much more is needed.

Experts agree that the $100 billion target is nowhere near what developing nations will need for renewable energy and adaptation measures, such as coastal defenses against rising seas.

A panel convened by the UN estimates that these countries - excluding China - will need $2.4 trillion a year by 2030 to meet their climate and development needs.

Climate finance is a thorny issue at the annual UN climate talks and negotiators have been working this year to try to establish a new target to replace the $100 billion goal.

The hosts of this year's COP29 in gas-rich Azerbaijan have made the issue a priority and hope that an ambitious agreement will be reached during the summit in November.

Earlier this year, Kenya was hit by exceptionally heavy rains, causing a trail of destruction and flooding entire villages.

The torrential rains, amplified by the El Nino weather pattern, have killed around 300 people in flood-related disasters since March, according to government figures.

Ruto said Kenya was working in all areas to try to make the country more resilient to extreme weather conditions.

“We are increasing our tree cover from 10% to 30%,” he said, claiming that the country would plant 15 billion trees as part of a program to restore wetlands and other fragile and degraded ecosystems.

Ruto was criticized for lifting a six-year ban on logging in state forests last year, but he said it was important for Kenya to balance its needs for commercial forestry and ecosystem conservation.

Kenya's forests are also key to the growing area of carbon markets, with the country accounting for around 25% of carbon trading in Africa, he said.

“It's about a whole range of ecosystems, grasslands, forests, and our national parks,” he said, adding that he has signed new legislation to guide the sector.

The idea is to empower the communities that “host the grasslands, the forests (so that they) have more voice and benefits” than those who trade or manage carbon credits, he said.

“It's a very new space,” he said, pointing to the large fluctuations in prices and calling for a global regulatory mechanism to ensure that “there is equity and there is no exploitation.”

By Cat BARTON

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