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Financing tops agenda at Africa Climate Summit

Truth to power: Ruto addresses the Africa Climate Summit last week PIC: SUPPLIED
Truth to power: Ruto addresses the Africa Climate Summit last week PIC: SUPPLIED

The issue of funding the continent’s energy transition once again took centre stage at last week’s inaugural Africa Climate Summit. Africans once again demanded that the developed world, which is most responsible for polluting the planet, bear the bulk of the cost of cleaning it up.

Fourteen years ago, rich countries made a significant pledge to channel $100 billion a year to developing nations by 2020 to help them adapt to climate change and mitigate the situation. None of this finance has come.

Fast forward from Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009 to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt last year where the historic Loss and Damage Fund was agreed upon last year, and this financing mechanism is yet to be operationalised. Developing countries that have been able to negotiate funding from the rich nations have found the terms to be restrictive, either in terms of rates, the nature of funding, or the interventions for which the funds can be allocated.


Editor's Comment
A promising step for public schools, but...

For too long, the state of many public schools has been a source of shame. We have all seen the pictures and heard the stories of broken windows, unreliable water and electricity, topped by classrooms that are not fit for proper learning. The establishment of the Education Infrastructure and Management Company Ltd (EIMC) signals that authorities are finally ready to take this problem seriously. We must commend the government for this initiative....

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