Greening Africa faces financing conundrum

Abstract

This panel discussion was held as part of African Development Week in Addis Ababa. Ambassador Olukanni said that while there was a meeting of the minds on the reduction of fossil-fuel emissions at the Paris Conference, there was no decision on how Africa was going to finance the move in this direction. “A pressing challenge for developing country policymakers is how to balance the imperative to develop green economies with a shortage of financing for green solutions,” Ambassador Olukanni said. Ethiopia’s State Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Mr. Kare Chawicha, said his country provided a model for the rest of Africa on how to deal with climate change. He said Ethiopia is developing a Climate Resilient Green Economy, an ambitious vision which is expected to help the country achieve middle-income country status by 2025 and become a net zero carbon emissions economy by then. Speakers agreed that the Paris outcome had brought both opportunities and challenges.