On Wednesday, 6th September 2023, the African Financial Alliance on Climate Change (AFAC) Secretariat convened a launched its Strategy Program at the Africa Climate Summit/Week in Nairobi, Kenya. The ceremony hosted by the Climate Transition Limited’s Director of Climate Finance Solutions, Mr. Olumide Lala, stands as a significant milestone in the journey towards climate resilience and sustainable finance in Africa. The gathering brought together esteemed representatives from major financial institutions as well as AFAC implementation including the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Global Centre for Adaptation (GCA), The Glasgow Financial Alliance on Net Zero (GFANZ), Financial Sector Deeping Africa (FSD Africa) and the United Nations Environment Programme Financial Initiative (UNEP-Fi), bore witness to impactful outcomes that complement the program’s intended objectives.
This Strategy program aims to promote sustainable finance in Africa through climate finance mobilisation, enhanced capacity building, improved collaboration, impact measurements and reporting aligned with the 2015 Paris Agreement goals. The Strategy is meant to serve toward mobilising Africa’s Financial Sector for Low-carbon and Climate Resilient Development.
Speaking at the event, Professor Anthony Nyong, the Director of Climate Change and Green Growth Department at the African Development Bank, expressed his hope that concrete solutions to Africa’s climate change challenges would be identified and the financial institutions in the room will offer critical steps to implementing these solutions. Dr. Kevin Kariuki, Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate, and Green Growth, Bank, reiterated its support for the AFAC partnership. GFANZ’s global reach, together with the Bank and GCA’s local presence on the continent, Africa’s private financial institutions’ access to global climate finance should improve. Also addressing the audience, the FSD Africa’s Director, Risk and Resilience, Mr Kevin Massingham representing the Nairobi Declaration on Sustainable Insurance (NDSI) highlighted the importance of partnerships in the collective fight against the impacts of climate change and the need for immediate action. The Secretary-General for the United Nations Environment Programme's Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), Mr Eric Usher, in his video recording, congratulated the AfDB and its partners for the launch of AFAC and emphasized the need for such collaborative initiatives to prepare Africa for the climate transition.
The AFAC strategy has five clear outcomes: (i) build awareness on the various impacts of climate risks for financial institutions and the economy; (ii) improve access to comparable data on climate vulnerability; (iii) increase the climate competences and capacity within African financial institutions; (iv) improve and strengthen regulations, market transparency and discipline and (v) mobilize capital for sustainable development. The AFAC was set up to bring African financial institutions together and include their collective voices in the global discourse on climate change.
