The African Science

4 | ASNS NEWS
Sep - Oct | 2018
Explore local funds options, Africa told
Mr Robert Bakika was a member of the panel that discussed financing for climate during
the 7th Climate Change and Development in Africa conference held in Nairobi
Mr Robert Bakika was a member of the
panel that discussed financing for climate
during the 7th Climate Change and Development
in Africa conference held in Nairobi.
The Climate Focus Team met and had a
chat with Mr Bakika. Here is the excerpts.
CF: Africa says it has projects for
funding. But the Multi development
banks say the projects are not bankable.
What is the way out for Africa in the
context of the CCDA7?
Bakika: In my presentations today I started
by saying that what Africa wants does not
communicate. While government representatives
from Africa insist that its priority
in climate financing debates is adaptation,
but the financial needs they prioritise
are for mitigation
CF: Is it because the Africa does not
understand the difference?
Bakika: No they do. But what they say is
their priorities is not what they are communicating
as priority.
CF: How should they communicate
this?
Bakika: Because, one is the different
funding streams available is more towards
mitigation than adaptation. Secondly, the
continent is failing to tap into the existing
domestic sources of financing that they
could use to finance their adaptation needs.
I gave an example of two Kenyan companies
that annually report huge profits. For
example, the Safaricom Ltd announced
last year an equivalent of USD500 million
profits. The question is, how do governments
inform the investments of such
companies to shift into green investment
with projects that will reduce vulnerability
in such areas in the arid and semi-arid
areas which I hear makes 79% of Kenya?
Why would the Kenyan government go for
a loan which will take 8 years of negotiating
for a concession before they are finalized?
Instead, the government could negotiate
with Safaricom to invest into such
green projects and then pay the Safaricom
after some agreed years.
Second thing I highlighted is the tapping
into commercial banks which have
different mandates to explore different
packages to meet customer needs. If you
see commercial banks in Europe, most
green projects are being undertaken by
commercial banks through equity financing
or green bonds. Thirdly, financing for
adaptation can no longer be guaranteed
anymore. Why? I gave an example that
the combined financing by Multilateral
Development banks (World Bank, European
Investment Banks, African Development
Banks etc) claim to have mobilized
now USD35 billion. Of these they have
deployed 79% of this money to mitigation
projects mostly as loans (81% of what has
been disbursed). Yet we in Africa are saying
that financing for climate change should
not be loans. These are facts. Fourthly, the
existing financial mechanisms like the
GCF, Adaptation Funds and GEF are no
longer interesting to donors. In GCF, the
contributing governments are no longer
interested. Yesterday, Australia announced
of its plans to pull out of GCF. It is only
Japan left in it. If Japan pulled out of GCF,
it will collapse because Japan is the greatest
contributor.
Adaptation Fund under LDCF, Kenya
does not benefit under LDCF as this only
benefits few LDC countries where Kenya
does not qualify. It can only get from the
Adaptation Funds, but it is also having
challenges, donors are no longer meeting
their pledges and the money that have been
replenished under the Clean Development
Mechanism is no longer available since the
CDM markets collapsed. This gives the
picture in the international financial market,
that there is no new money. They are
working but are slow and our governments
should not be made to wait. There is also
a commitment under the Addis Ababa Action
Agenda to advance domestic resources.
The question we are asking is can the
governments begin to look inwards given
the slowness of the international financial
markets
Climate finance: Tobiko lauds 5 States
Kenya’s Environment and
Forestry CS Keriako Tobiko has commended
five counties in the country
for successfully implementing the
model of devolved climate finance
that is crucial towards achieving low
carbon emission regime.
Noting that Devolved governance
was playing a crucial role in assisting
Kenyans develop ways to mitigate effects
of climate change at community
level, Mr.Tobiko, said County Climate
Change Fund mechanism integrated
climate risk and empowered poor and
vulnerable communities in the face of
climate change. He said the counties
had put in place structures and processes
enabling access and manage
climate finance in transparent and accountable
manner.
In a speech during the country’s
first PACJA convened National Conference
on Climate Governance in
Nairobi, Mr. Tobiko said the implementation
of climate change actions
was the responsibility of both government
and non-state actors. The Cabinet
Secretary lauded county governments
for putting in place climate
Tobuko
change actions, demonstrating the
critical role devolved governance play
in the country’s transition towards a
low carbon climate resilient development
pathway.
Kenya, like any other developing
countries, he said was vulnerable to
the adverse impacts of climate change
due to the high dependence on climate-sensitive
agricultural production
but will leave no stone unturned in
coming up with mitigation actions.
The CS said increased frequency
and intensity of extreme weather
events like droughts and floods have
hit many regions across Kenya and
posing a challenge to the attainment
of the 2030 sustainable development
agenda. “The poor, women
and children in the various areas are
most affected due to their low adaptive
capacity. These threats, however,
present some opportunities towards
innovative and green investments,”
he said.
Mr. Tobiko said Kenya’s Nationally
Determined Contribution
(NDC) outlined the country’s climate
change commitment under the Paris
Agreement.“Adaptation is a priority
in Kenya and its contribution is envisaged
through mainstreaming of adaptation
actions into all sectors of the
medium term plans to ensure strengthened
resilience to climate change,”
the Cabinet Secretary said.
He said Kenya’s mitigation actions
target abatement of the greenhouse
gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030
relative to the business-as-usual scenario
of 143 million tonnes of carbon
dioxide equivalent.
However, he noted that achievement
of NDC contribution is subject
to international support in the form of
finance, investment, capacity building,
and technology development and
transfer. “Collaboration between the
government and partners is therefore
essential for implementation of the
NDC”, said Tobiko.