South Africa’s Environment Minister Barbara Creesy has emphasised the need for a new approach to climate finance for Africa and other developing countries, as reported by
Pretoria News, a partner of TV BRICS.

Speaking at the first African Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, Creesy spoke about the importance of exploring new financial instruments with favourable terms.

She noted the importance of local currency lending to support climate action in Africa and praised the efforts of institutions such as the Green Climate Fund and the New Development Bank in this regard.

Creesy also referred to the communique adopted by African ministers in Cairo in 2022, which called on multilateral development banks and international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF to renew sources of finance and undertake debt reform.

The African Development Bank estimates that between $130 billion and $170 billion of financing will be needed to make Africa’s infrastructure more resilient to climate change.

Climate change is a major threat to Africa, with the Global Commission on Adaptation estimating potential annual GDP losses on the continent of between 2 and 4 per cent by 2040.

Barbara Creesy’s speech at the Africa Climate Summit highlights the urgent need to rethink climate finance so that it effectively addresses climate change in Africa without adding to the continent’s debt burden.

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