The African Development Bank (AFDB) has said that Africa is losing from 5 to 15 percent of its GDP per capita growth because of climate change and faces an annual climate finance gap of $1.28 trillion. 

AFDB revealed these figures in a panel discussion in Cairo on Monday. 

Kevin Urama, AFDB’s acting chief economist and vice president, said that Africa needed about $1.6 trillion between 2022 and 2030 to meet its national determination contributions. 

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“Collectively, African countries received only $18.3 billion in climate finance between 2016 and 2019. This results in a climate finance gap of up to $1288.2 billion annually from 2020 to 2030,” Urama said.  

“These sums reflect how the crisis is. Climate change affects Africa severely, while the continent contributes to only 3% of global emissions. The global community must meet its $100 billion commitment to help the developing countries and African economies to mitigate the impacts of the climate change and to adapt to it. 

“Investing in climate adaptation in the context of sustainable development is the best way to cope with the climate change impacts, adding that gas must remain included in the continent’s plan for the gradual transition to clean energy.” 

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According to Urama, many countries have managed to transition from coal dependence since the 1850s and now use gas as a cleaner form of energy. 

Akinwunmi Adesina, President of AFDB, was at the panel discussion with other world leaders, including Ban Ki-Moon and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

“The current climate financing architecture is not meeting the needs of Africa,” Adesina said.

“New estimates by the African Economic Outlook of the African Development Bank show that Africa will need between 1.3 and 1.6 trillion dollars from 2020 to 2030, or $118 billion to $145 billion annually to implement its commitments to the Paris Agreement and its nationally determined contributions.”