African leaders, investors and development partners, including the African Development Bank Group, on the sidelines of the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris, gave assurances of their support for the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA) as it pushes toward a first close of $500 million for green infrastructure projects in Africa.
President of African Development Bank Akinwumi Adesina, who led a roundtable discussion about the Alliance, an initiative of the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, and Africa50 with other partners, explained how the initiative will work.
He said: “The Alliance will mobilise $100 million in grants for project preparation, $400 million in blended financing through grants, concessional resources, and commercial investments for project
development.”
He had during his opening remarks noted that one of the major challenges to accelerated development is the lack of infrastructure needed at scale to fastrack and spur faster growth and transform our
economies.
He noted that “Africa’s infrastructural financing gap is estimated at $113-147 billion annually. “Because most of the infrastructure in Africa is yet to be built, that presents a unique opportunity to start green or green the existing infrastructure President noted that AGIA would therefore focus on climate resilient infrastructure.
During the event, Amadou Hott, African Development Bank Special Envoy for the Alliance, announced that Mark Gallogly of philanthropic firm Three Cairns Group had provided a $5 million grant to the Alliance.
The roundtable offered African presidents, investors and partners the opportunity to discuss the initiative and other innovative climate finance mechanisms against a backdrop of high-level discussions to
overhaul the global financial architecture to make it fairer for developing countries. These countries are also looking to gain access to financing to adapt swiftly to accelerating climate change as their budgets are constrained.
Kenyan President William Ruto said Africa’s already low share of global energy investments had fallen sharply over the last five years.
Africa’s cost of borrowing, which is eight times higher than other regions, was another challenge. “Let us have a different
conversation,” Ruto said. Let us not have a conversation about us versus them, north versus south. Let us have a conversation of
win-win.”
Comoros President and current chair of the African Union, Azali Assoumani said his government was putting the right conditions in place to attract investment in the island nation’s renewable sector.
“Given Africa’s susceptibility to climate change impacts arising from floods, cyclones and so on, Africa’s infrastructure also needs to be made climate change resilient.
“Greening the infrastructure space will position Africa to tap into $522 billion of green bonds globally for which africa accounts for 0.4% literally almost nothing.”
