Ireland, Austria Support Africa Climate Change Fund With €3m

Posted by Eric Ojo African News, Featured, Latest Headlines, News Around Africa Thursday, February 9th, 2023

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Ireland and Austria have donated €3 million to Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF) to support the work of the Fund.

The two countries joined the Fund in late 2022, bringing its current donors to seven. The other donors are the Government of Italy; the Government of Flanders (Belgium); the Government of Quebec (Canada); Global Affairs Canada; and the Global Center on Adaptation.

Both countries made initial contributions of €2 million and €1 million to the ACCF, respectively.

The ACCF is a Multi-donor Trust fund which was established by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in April 2014 with an initial contribution of € 4.725 million from the Government of Germany. Its mission is to support African countries in building their resilience to the negative impacts of climate change and transition to sustainable low-carbon growth.

The ACCF was converted to a multi-donor trust fund in 2017 with contributions from the governments of Flanders, Belgium, and Italy. The current value of the trust fund is $28.8 million. The Global Affairs Canada and the Government of Quebec joined the Fund in 2020 and the Global Center on Adaptation in 2022. The current trust size is USD $25.71 million.

Since its inception, the Fund has approved 27 grants worth $16.89 million and completed seven projects that have helped build capacity to access international climate finance in over 26 African countries. ACCF projects have also enabled countries to mobilize climate finance and implement small-scale adaptation strategies to enhance climate resilience.

The ACCF supports projects through competitive calls for proposals and a demand-driven window. These new funds will be channeled via these windows. Grants may be accessed by private sector operators with exemplary projects that are new, semi-commercial and require significant development work.

Notably, the Fund backs the AfDB’s target of tripling its climate financing and advancing Africa’s climate resilience.

Director General at Austria’s Federal Ministry of Finance, Harald Waiglein expressed his country’s commitment to tackling climate change with a strong focus on adaptation.

In a letter to the Bank, Waiglein said: “The Federal Ministry of Finance of Austria decided to contribute to the ACCF to support activities of the Africa NDC Hub, including the development and update of Nationally Determined Contributions and Long-Term Climate Strategies of African countries”.

“We consider these strategies essential to combat climate change and further sustainable development”, he added.

Similarly, Ireland’s Minister for International Development and the Diaspora, Sean Fleming said his country is committed to supporting communities across Africa to deal with the impacts of climate change.

Fleming noted that a focus on adaptation and support to African countries continues to be at the core of Ireland’s engagement in climate action, adding that Ireland plans to more than double its climate finance to developing countries by 2025.

“This contribution to the ACCF has a strong focus on climate adaptation and is another indication of how Ireland supports the drive for a climate-resilient Africa”, he stressed.

Also in his remarks, the Director of Climate Change and Green Growth at AfDB, Prof. Anthony Nyong welcomed Ireland and Austria as donors to ACCF.

“These new funds will enable the ACCF to support the preparation and strengthening of NDCs and Long-Term Strategies in African countries and to support projects already identified through ACCF’s third call for proposals”, he further explained.