Egypt's Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli said on Tuesday that more than 22 African nations support the Sustainable Debts Alliance led by Egypt, calling on the rest of the continent to follow suit.
The alliance will reduce the cost of green finance, and contribute to reforming the international financial system, Madbouli said at a climate event in Kenya.
The initiative was first proposed by Egypt earlier this year in cooperation with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and was approved by various African finance ministers. It will regulate sustainable debt transactions and ease debt burdens for emerging markets.
Madbouli’s remarks came during the two-day Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, which kicked off on Tuesday under the title 'Stimulating Green Growth and Climate Finance Solutions for Africa and the World'.
Madbouli highlighted the "huge" financing required for developing countries to be able to meet their commitments to help keep global temperature increases below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
He urged a realistic approach to the financing gap which he said will amount to about $5.6 trillion by 2030.
Up to $1 trillion, Madbouli added, is needed annually for renewable energy alone. Likewise, the amount of international financing needed to achieve carbon neutrality amounts to about $4 trillion annually, he noted.
Madbouli emphasized that increasing the financing allocated to climate change cannot detract from financing already allocated to sustainable development and eradicating poverty.
Egypt believes that Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) cannot increase in ambition without a commensurate increase in financing.
NDCs are plans each country sets for its future to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and secure the finances needed to achieve them.
Madbouli called for a "clear" shift in the policies of international financial institutions and development partners in order to achieve these desired goals.
Source: Al-Ahram Online
