The African Development Bank’s President is in Paris for the so-called Conference for a New Global Financial Accord.
Akinwumi Adesina addressed affluent nations whose financial obligations to Africa, some of which date back to 2009, before of the start of the discussions on Wednesday (June 21).
“Climate change costs Africa $7 to $15 billion each year, and this figure is expected to climb to over $50 billion by 2040. As a result, the globe must meet its pledge, the wealthy countries’ $100 billion. I mean, it’s a really modest amount of money in comparison to the magnitude of the problem, but not meeting in it has caused a confidence crisis in poor nations.”
Macron, the French president, is entertaining nearly 50 heads of state. There are also world finance officials and activists in attendance. The conference intends to reshape the global financial system in order to find better solutions to poverty and climate catastrophe challenges.
Developing nations have pointed to system where the USA, Europe and other big economies that have caused most climate damage are their main creditors and leave poorest countries to deal with the consequences of the climate crisis.
Time for concrete steps?
The 2-day summit has no mandate to make formal decisions, organisers stressed. It rather aims to give a political impetus to key issues to be discussed in upcoming international talks such as climate conferences.
“As President Macron and others said, I don’t think you’re going to have a lot of new announcements made”, Adesina said.
“I think the issues that announcement that needs to be made have been made. I think it’s more about commitment, you know, and looking for ways in particular of how we are going to engage the private sector because that’s the key. I mean, you look at the world today, you have $145 trillion of assets on their management by institutional investors. It’s going to rise to that by 2026 which is just 3 years down the line, so it’s very massive.”
Several activists and non-governmental organizations have urged participants of the climate and finance summit ending Friday (June 23) to ensure that rich countries commit to debt relief for poor nations, including the cancellation of loans. A debt suspension clause for countries hit by extreme climatic events was also discussed.
The summit’s first day included announcements of a pair of deals. French officials said debt-burdened Zambia reached a deal with several creditors including China to restructure $6.3 billion in loans. And Senegal reached a deal with the European Union and western allies to support its efforts to improve its access to energy and increase its share of renewable energy to 40% by 2030.
