How Climate Finance Can Liberate Africa This Freedom Day

The data does not lie, and without serious intervention, the world is rapidly on course to devastating, irreversible climate change…but all is not lost!

Just some of the facts:

• A report from the World Meteorological Organisation predicts that one year in the next five will almost certainly be the hottest on record, and according to the research, there is now a 66% chance we will pass the 1.5C global warming threshold between now and 2027.
• As per the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world is rapidly approaching a level of warming that will make it significantly harder to manage drought, heat waves, rising sea levels, and other climate-related disasters.
• East Africa just saw its fifth season of failed rains, which the UN’s World Food Programme says has put up to 22 million people at risk of severe hunger.
• In other regions, extreme rainfall caused historic flooding last year – as seen in China, Pakistan, and Nigeria.
• Data from the World Resources Institute reports that developing countries require an estimated $160-$340 billion per year by 2030 to adapt to increasing climate impacts; this amount is projected to increase to $315-$565 billion by 2050. Right now, however, less than $50 billion — or just 10% of all climate finance — is allocated to adaptation.
• The Earth is in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, with Scientists believing that at least 550 species could be lost this century if action is not taken. Not only is this an environmental disaster, but it can also lead to financial ruin; $44 trillion of economic value is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its related services.
• Furthermore, according to the World Economic Forum, we can expect some unexpected and rather ‘peculiar’ side effects of climate change, which include sex-changing lizards, shrinking goats, and the worsening quality of wine and coffee!

Although Climate Change is here, all hope is not lost and we believe that what is needed now is united efforts from the public and private sectors on implementing adaptation plans, that work in parallel to reaching Net-Zero targets.

The IPCC’s sixth assessment report states, ‘’The climate time-bomb is ticking… Our world needs climate action on all fronts – everything, everywhere, and all at once.’” That means reducing fossil fuel use, whilst scaling renewable energy, decarbonizing industry, and protecting and restoring our natural ecosystems. Delivering this requires direct and intrepid action from governments and the private sector.

The biggest challenge now, both for the scientists and policymakers, is much more attention to implementation and closing the gaps between where we need to be, what we promised to do, and what we’re actually doing on the ground. With the world’s economies so inherently linked to the health of the environment, there are vast opportunities for financial investment to support projects designed to restore Earth’s biodiversity.

Nature-based solutions provide a host of compelling investment opportunities that could amplify a positive growth course for the environment and the economy going forward. We believe that REDD+ falls under a blended form of climate finance that offers immediate solutions in protecting and helping to restore degraded areas while offering long-term revenue streams to build resilience amongst the World’s most vulnerable communities to help them adapt and equip to tackle the impacts of climate change.

Carbon finance in particular can be used to help address the twin crises of nature loss and climate change. Natural climate solutions can help states meet their climate change commitments outlined in the 2015 UN Paris Agreement. Carbon credits generated through natural climate solutions offer the opportunity to businesses to compensate for their emissions in a way that would also contribute to halting and possibly reversing the loss of nature. To date, BCP projects have reported an estimated 12,306,172 tCO2e net emission reductions in our project areas since inception. It is, however, critical that corporate use of Natural Climate Solutions as compensation credits always come on top of decarbonization efforts.

REDD+ offers Africa a robust, sustainable, and durable financial model that takes on the issue of climate change on the ground in real-time; it offers communities alternative methods of income that do not encroach on the forests; and, it is a way of addressing the alarming ecosystem decline and biodiversity crisis that we are also facing. It is a means to liberate and empower the Global South in the face of the adverse impacts of climate change.

We address climate change, reduce deforestation, and offer sustainable use of ecosystems – a tool to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.

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