South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday criticised international funders for making it difficult for poorer nations to access aid to fight climate change, reported The Africa News.
According to a United Nations-backed report released on Tuesday, developing countries and emerging economies will need investments of more than $2 trillion annually by 2030 to tackle climate change threat.
Speaking at the COP27 summit on Tuesday, Ramaphosa, asked for a clear roadmap.
“We need a clear roadmap to deliver on the Glasgow decision to double adaptation financing by 2025, our emphasis must be on the health, wellbeing and food and water security of the most vulnerable people in the world,” the South African president said.
He said his government is already scaling up investment in renewable energy and is on a course to retire a number of ageing coal-fired power stations. He warned that the amount of money that is needed for South Africa to embark on its journey to becoming a green country is close on to $90 trillion.
Notably, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union had previously pledged a deal valued at $8.5bn (£7.3bn), which includes initiatives to help fossil fuel workers move to greener industries.
When asked if any of the money had materialised, South Africa’s Environment Minister, Barbara Creecy, added the first has come through and that the sum involved was $600m.
South African President Ramaphosa reiterated its call to western nations to deliver a financial package they promised to help the nation speed up its move away from coal.
In related news, on Tuesday, the Namibian government said at the COP27 summit that it had received over 540 million euros ($544 million) in climate finance from the Dutch government and European Investment Bank. The Dutch grant is from infrastructure funding vehicle Invest International. The aid from the European Investment Bank is to build green hydrogen and renewable energy projects in Namibia.
