Climate Investment Funds Vows To Keep Mobilizing Resources For African Countries

Posted by Eric Ojo Africa, Latest Headlines, News Around Africa Tuesday, April 18th, 2023

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Climate Investment Funds (CIF), a premier multilateral climate finance mechanism at the forefront of climate action in developing countries, has promised to continue to mobilize resources to support African countries.

Established at the request of G8 and G20 countries in 2008 as one of the largest fast-tracked climate financing instruments globally, CIF provides developing countries with grants, concessional loans, risk mitigation instruments, and equity that leverage significant financing from the private sector, multilateral development banks, and other sources.

It works exclusively through six multilateral development banks (MDBs) to mobilize investments to pilot and scale cutting-edge climate solutions to address frontier climate challenges the MDBs can’t fight on their own.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) serves as an implementing agency of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), a premier multilateral climate finance mechanism at the forefront of climate action in developing countries.

Since 2010, the AfDB has consistently played its role in advancing a growing portfolio of projects in renewable energy, forestry, and resilience in Africa.

Head of CIF, Mafalda Duarte made the pledge at the opening ceremony of a four-day event jointly organized by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire, the AfDB and CIF.

The event which was held as a platform to share knowledge from 15 years of the Fund’s interventions in Africa, was focused on experiences from the Forest Investment Programme and the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience. It also previewed CIF’s Nature, People, and Climate Investment Programme.

The occasion brought together over 200 participants from CIF recipient countries, contributing states, the private sector, civil society, local community groups, and the Fund’s international partners.

Duarte said after about 15 years, CIF has learned a great deal about what works in climate finance.

“We’re a fund and a learning laboratory. Here in Côte d’Ivoire, CIF and African Development Bank are proudly bringing countries together to exchange lessons and lay the groundwork for even greater impact”, she said.

The CIF event highlighted the perspectives of African governments and donor countries on the urgent need to scale up climate finance, particularly for adaptation in Africa and how the Fund can lead this process.

Africa has contributed the least to global warming, and has the lowest emissions, but it is most vulnerable to the implications of global warming under all climate scenarios over 1.5 degrees Celsius.

AfDB’s Vice President of Energy, Power and Climate, Kevin Kariuki noted that CIF was created by MDBs and for MDBs and its member countries.

“As a financing mechanism that provides concessional resources to support climate change projects, CIF is one of a kind and a partner of choice for the bank and the African continent”, he added.

Ivorian Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development Jean-Luc Assi highlighted efforts to reverse Côte d’Ivoire’s declining forest cover, currently estimated at 2.5 million hectares compared to 16 million in the 1960s.

“Côte d’Ivoire has requested and obtained funding from the CIF to operationalize its strategies for forest management and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions due to deforestation and forest degradation”, he explained.

Assi also disclosed that CIF provided $177 million for the first two phases of Côte d’Ivoire’s Forest Investment Programme and the Dedicated Grant Mechanism.

There were sessions dedicated to International Women’s Day 2023, focusing on social inclusion and women’s leadership. Women are leading frontline climate action and activism.

Notably, climate finance in Africa is key to supporting women and youth climate entrepreneurship to scale up interventions driving climate actions in local communities.

Moreover, climate leadership of women requires interrelated approaches to ensure their empowerment and influence in decision-making processes, participants heard.

Founder and President of African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests, Cécile Bibiane Ndjebet said: ““The African continent needs it, and the world needs it. Climate finance needs to reach those most in need and those on the ground. It’s not difficult, and the proof is that CIF has dared”.

She is the 2022 Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award Recipient and UNEP Champion of the Earth.

The participants also visited an energy wood production site in Ahua, Department of Dimbokro, developed by the by the MALEBI Association, an Ivorian women-led organization that produces and sells of sustainable charcoal.

The event provided a platform to discuss key just transition challenges in Africa. The transition to a green economy will create new economic and social development opportunities, but it also poses new risks and losses. How these risks and opportunities are mitigated and distributed among different populations and regions will determine if the transition to a low-carbon and resilient economy is just.