Kenya to host 19 African leaders for climate talks
Kenya is set to host the Africa Climate Summit next month, a forum that is expected to attract 19 Heads of State and government.
The event, co-hosted by the Kenya government and the African Union Commission, with President William Ruto as the chairperson of the summit, is scheduled to take place from September 4 to 6 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi.
The Summit will run concurrently with the Africa Climate week also to be held at the same venue.
Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya said the summit will present an opportunity for Africa to showcase its resources to the world and to drive a green growth agenda through a low-carbon development pathway that enables the world to decarbonize fast and cost effectively.
Renewable energy
The CS, who was briefing the media on the forthcoming event held at the Summit Secretariat offices at 316 Upper Hill Chambers Building, said Africa’s critical minerals and opportunities for local processing on the continent can enable the reduction of greenhouse gases that warm the world while at the same time creating green jobs for the growing population.
She said Africa has vast potential for renewable energy and singled out Kenya’s renewable energy in the national electricity grid, which is currently at 92 per cent.
“Africa also hosts a vast amount of uncultivated arable land, which is an opportunity for the continent to serve as the global breadbasket. These solutions are what the world is looking for and they are all here in Africa; we bring them to the world at the Summit,” Soipan stated.
The CS noted that wildfires, heat waves, devastating floods and other natural disasters that have been threatening to make parts of the planet inhabitable, citing Africa, North America, Asia and Europe, where unprecedented high temperatures have been witnessed.
“The United Nations estimates that we have lost 1.23 million lives in 7,348 major disasters worldwide over the last two decades, while the global disasters report shows that nearly 85 per cent of all disasters have been caused by extreme weather and climate conditions over the decade,” she added.
Debt crisis
Tuya said the Africa summit will be used to highlight the climate change development nexus and show the linkage between Africa’s debt distress and its inability to have sufficient capital to conduct adaptation and mitigation interventions for climate change as a result of debt.
She further noted that the event, which is expected to host a delegation of over 10,000 people, will also make proposals to have the multinational development banks reconsider how they deal with Africa’s debt to avoid African countries and countries in the global south going into distress.
“Africa will be proposing a new global climate finance architecture that will be timely, responsive and at scale in helping conduct global climate change interventions,” she said.
Africa Climate Week will be organised into four systems based tracks, each focusing on specific themes namely energy systems and industry, cities, urban and rural settlements, infrastructure and transport, land, ocean, food and water, societies, health, livelihoods, and economies.
The event is organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank, with the support of regional partners: African Union (AU), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
