BAKU, Azerbaijan (PAMACC News) - More than ever before, African environmental Civil Society Organisations, youth groups, and country representatives at the two week 29th climate change summit (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, united under one voice, calling on the Global North to keep the promise of climate finance, but desist from imposing loans on climate burdened countries. Kenya is one of the countries bedeviled with such climate related loans of which the government has no option, but to keep taxing the already overtaxed and climate burdened citizens in order to service the ‘climate finance’ debts. “It is quite immoral to burden African communities who are already paying the ultimate prize of climate change with unfair loans to mitigate a disaster, apparently caused by the financier,” said Jessica Mwanzia, the Climate Finance and Gender Lead at the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA). “Africa emits a paltry four percent of the total global greenhouse gases, most of which is absorbed just by one carbon sink – the Congo Basin, leaving the continent with almost no, or extremely insignificant emissions,” said the activist. The World Bank describes the Congo Basin as the “lungs of Africa”, being one of the largest forest-based carbon sinks in the world, absorbing up to 1.2 billion tons of carbon annually against 1.4 million tons of the emissions from the continent. “Africa faces a unique climate paradox,” said Dr Augustine Njamnshi, the Director - African Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access (ACSEA). “We are a continent rich in biodiversity, vast forests, and vital ecosystems that help stabilise the planet, not to mention a continent rich with minerals essential for energy transition, yet, the most impacted by climate disasters,” he said. The civil society at COP29 intensified the pressure on the developed world to mobilise resources to support African communities with climate adaptation funds that are need-based, and in form of grants. Ironically, African countries including Kenya are already grappling with loans guised as ‘climate finance’ through projects that purport to ‘prevent further emission,’ or to sequester ‘existing greenhouse gases’ from the atmosphere. Furthermore, the climate financiers are seeking to recoup back money advanced to the country among other African countries to support climate adaptation projects. “How can a climate change financier seek to be paid back money invested in a water project for example, set up for a community whose water sources have been destroyed as a result of climate change?” asked Mwanzia. “Loans are supposed to be given to business entities whose main objective is to make profits and not to communities struggling to adapt to climate related disasters,” she said. Through the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the world largest facility for climate finance that was established within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to assist developing countries with climate change adaptation and mitigation activities, Kenyan tax payers are among African communities that have been exposed to debt burdens amounting to hundreds of billions of shillings in the name of climate finance.…

BAKU, Azerbaijan (PAMACC News) – African environmental activists at the ongoing COP29 climate summit in Baku are urging climate financiers to stop burdening poor countries with unmanageable loans under the guise of funding climate adaptation and mitigation projects. Just a few months ago, widespread protests erupted in East and West Africa, led by young people demanding an end to heavy taxes imposed by governments to service foreign loans—many of which have been embezzled by corrupt leaders. “We reject loans and any form of debt for a continent that had no role in causing global warming. We refuse to borrow from the arsonist to put out the fire they started and which is burning our livelihoods,” said Dr. Mithika Mwenda, Executive Director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA). According to PACJA, between 70 and 80 percent of financing from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to African countries comes in the form of loans, often routed through intermediaries. In practice, only a fraction of these funds—sometimes less than 10 percent—actually reach the climate-burdened communities that need them most. “We demand that these finances be directed first and foremost toward those most exposed to climate risks and least able to adapt,” Dr. Mwenda continued. “This means moving beyond fragmented and delayed funding and ensuring a reliable, affordable, accessible, and timely flow of finance—preferably in the form of grants—that matches the scale of the crisis,” he said during Africa Day, an annual event organized by the African Development Bank on the sidelines of COP29. One of the many problematic financial instruments imposed on African countries is the Sustainable Renewables Risk Mitigation Initiative (SRMI) Facility. This initiative, primarily a mitigation project aimed at offsetting 89 million tons of carbon emissions, has seen six African countries and one from Asia-Pacific (Kenya, DR Congo, Namibia, Mali, Botswana, and the Central African Republic) saddled with a loan of USD 1.6 billion. This loan, intended to offset emissions primarily from the Global North, will have to be repaid by the very communities already bearing the brunt of climate change. Despite Africa contributing less than 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, these countries are expected to repay loans taken for projects designed to mitigate the environmental damage caused by wealthier nations. The GCF approved the project on March 19, 2021, with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association overseeing its implementation, under the supervision of Mr. Zhihong Zhang, a Senior Carbon Finance Specialist based in Washington, D.C. Another example is the Leveraging Energy Access Finance (LEAF) Framework, approved on July 1, 2021, and implemented by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The project, meant to help Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tunisia avoid emitting 29.9 million tons of greenhouse gases, requires repayment of a loan amounting to USD 959.9 million. The burden of this loan will fall on poor taxpayers, many of whom are already suffering the impacts of climate change. Activists argue that focusing on mitigation loans for African countries is…

BAKU, Azerbaijan (PAMACC News) - The Fund for responding to Loss and Damage is now ready to accept contributions after the signing of key documents. The Fund will serve as a lifeline by providing critical and urgent support for those impacted by the devastating consequences of climate change. With this important milestone reached, the Fund is now expected to start financing projects in 2025. A ceremony at COP29 in Baku celebrated the signing of the Trustee Agreement and the Secretariat Hosting Agreement between the Board of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage and the World Bank, as well as the Host Country Agreement between the Fund Board and the Fund Board’s host country, the Republic of the Philippines. The Presidency is working with all countries that have pledged money to complete their contribution agreements as soon as possible. At the November 12 event, Sweden pledged 200M kr (approximately $19M) to the Fund, subject to government approval. This significant contribution brings the total pledged funding to more than $720M. The COP29 Presidency thanked Sweden for answering the call to action and continues to urge further pledges to the Fund to better meet the needs of communities on the frontlines of climate change. Loss and damage has been a key priority in the COP29 Presidency’s plan to enhance ambition and enable action. The Presidency has pushed for progress across all parts of the loss and damage landscape throughout the year. Today’s vital win for climate vulnerable communities is the result of years of work across borders and organizations. Parties made significant progress at COP27 in Egypt and COP28 in the UAE by establishing and providing for the operationalization of the Fund. This year, the COP29 Presidency has worked intensively with the Fund Board and the World Bank, alongside donor countries, to complete the preparations for today’s breakthrough. This includes hosting the third meeting of the Fund Board in Azerbaijan in September, where significant progress was made to operationalize the Fund, laying the groundwork for disbursing the much-needed financial support starting in 2025. The selection of Ibrahima Cheikh Diong as the Fund’s Executive Director further enhanced the institutionalization of the Fund. These developments will build momentum as Parties work to reach a balanced package of outcomes at COP29. “This progress will allow us to finally turn pledges into real support. That means that funding will be able to flow in 2025. We should reflect on what this breakthrough will mean for real people. It means houses being rebuilt, people being resettled, and lives and livelihoods saved,” said COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev. “But our work is not done. Now, the Fund needs to identify projects to get support flowing. All countries that have pledged money must complete their contribution agreements. And we need more pledges so we can meet the urgent needs of climate change victims.” “Today demonstrated again the power of global solidarity in advancing climate action. We must keep the momentum to ensure that the Fund reaches countries in need…

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Kenya is one of the African countries that are keen on implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) with a hope of reducing the greenhouse gas emission by 32% come the year 2030 compared to the business-as-usual scenario The NDCs are the climate action plans and commitments by individual countries under the Paris Agreement on climate change. The main aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, while adapting to the impacts of the changing climatic conditions. In Kenya, the NDC is extremely important because the country’s economy is deeply intertwined with climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, tourism, and energy. Prolonged droughts, erratic rainfall, and rising temperatures have significantly affected crop production, food security, and livelihoods, particularly among the rural population. “In this country, climate change is estimated to cost between 3% to 5% of GDP annually – this really hampers us and makes it difficult for the country to take the opportunity to give its citizens the services they require,” said Michael Okumu of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Climate Change Directorate during a workshop a UNDP in Nairobi. So far, Kenya has developed several policies that will be instrumental in implementation of the NDC. The National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) III 2023 – 2027 for example, is the third five-year plan that presents the detailed priority actions that Kenya will embark on to address climate change in the medium-term planning period and contribute to the achievement of our NDC under the Paris Agreement. According to President William Ruto, the government of Kenya is keen to continue implementing the Climate Change Act (No. 11 of 2016), which provides the framework for compliance with the Paris Agreement, and Kenya’s (2020) updated NDC. “The Climate Change Act is central to our climate actions at both the national and county government levels,” said President Ruto in a statement. “It is important to note the progress made by county governments in the last five years in the enactment of county-level climate legislation that establishes Climate Change Funds and ward climate change committees, and provides for allocation of a minimum percentage of development budgets to finance locally-led climate actions,” he said. The National Adaptation Plans (NAP) is another policy instrument that seeks to identify medium- and long-term adaptation needs, informed by the latest climate science. Kenya’s NAP process objectives are to highlight the importance of adaptation and resilience building actions in development, and to integrate climate change adaptation into national and county level development planning and budgeting processes. The process is also used to enhance the resilience of public and private sector investment in the national transformation, economic and social and pillars of Vision 2030 to climate shocks, to enhance synergies between adaptation and mitigation actions in order to attain a low carbon climate resilient economy, and as well to enhance resilience of vulnerable populations to climate shocks through adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies. According to the UNDP, countries can utilize the NAP process…