By Adedapo Adesanya
The United States government has announced it will provide a $5 million grant to the African Development Bank (AfDB) to support efforts to abate methane gas emissions, across Africa.
Methane accounts for about half of the net rise in global average temperature since the pre-industrial era.
The grant, subject to the completion of US domestic procedures and approvals, will go to the multi-donor Africa Climate Change Fund, which is managed by the African Development Bank. The Fund supports a broad range of activities covering climate resilience and low-carbon growth.
US special presidential envoy for climate, Mr John Kerry, made the announcement at a breakfast event held on the margins of the ongoing 18th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment taking place in Dakar.
He said: “More than 25 countries on the continent have joined the Global Methane Pledge, a resounding level of support for the importance of methane in keeping 1.5 degrees within reach.”
“I am very pleased that the African Development Bank is responding to the increased global attention on methane emissions and is planning to increase their own focus on methane abatement in coming years,” Mr Kerry added.
Additional funding was also promised by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and the Global Methane Hub to tackle methane emissions in African countries.
The Global Methane Hub will contribute $5 million dollars over the next three years. The Hub funds methane mitigation efforts. The Coalition, a voluntary partnership of governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, and research institutions, will provide $1.2 million.
The Global Methane pledge, launched during COP26 in Glasgow, targets reducing emissions of methane by at least 30 per cent from 2020 levels over the next seven years.
The Bank Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate, and Green Growth at AfDB, Mr Kevin Kariuki said the lender planned to create activities within the ACCF to support methane abatement.
“With the support of the U.S. government, and other donors and non-state actors, we intend to create a dedicated pillar of activities within our Africa Climate Change Fund to support methane abatement including working with countries to include methane in their Nationally Defined Contributions and develop pipelines of methane abatement projects for further investment,” Mr Kariuki said.
AfDB would be releasing a methane baseline reporting covering waste and energy sector methane emissions across Africa at the forthcoming COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
“This will provide an excellent foundation for increased focus on methane emissions,” said Mr Kariuki.
According to AfDB’s 2022 Africa Economic Outlook, Africa will need as much as $1.6 trillion between 2020-2030 to implement its climate action commitments and nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
The African Development Bank has committed to mobilizing $25 billion for climate finance by 2025; more than 50 per cent of that funding will be allocated to adaptation projects.
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