DelAgua ‘s COO Euan McDougall and Head of Government Relations Monica Keza joined thousands of Climate Change policy makers, activists, development partners and Governments in Nairobi for the first ever Africa Climate Week and Summit that took place from September 4th – 8th 2023.
The Africa Climate Summit, hosted by the Government of Kenya, brought together key actors in the Climate Change agenda to emphasize the urgent need for action to address the ongoing global climate crisis. At the center of the discussions was the disproportionate impacts of climate change on Africa, including extreme weather events, droughts, and rising sea levels.
One of the main discussion points in the main plenary sessions and side events was the call for increased financing and support to help African countries adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.
According to researchers at the summit, Africa only receives about 12% of the financing it needs to cope with climate change, despite suffering from some of the worst impacts of this crisis.
During the Conference, and ahead of hosting COP, the United Arab Emirates pledged $4.5 billion to support clean energy projects in Africa.
The role of climate financing in Africa cannot be understated. DelAgua’s Live Well programme that has so far delivered over 1.5 million high-quality improved cookstoves across 3 African countries is financed solely by the sale of carbon credits and climate financing. The proposed increase in climate financing will support programmes like ours to deliver clean cookstoves to more rural communities, faster.
The summit comes at a time where several African countries are looking to regulate their carbon offset markets, increase carbon credit production & attract more investments that will propel the growth of the green economy in Africa.
Commitments like the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative, a platform aimed to create a market for carbon credits in Africa, are indeed a step in the right direction.
We welcome such initiatives that offer an incredible opportunity to unlock carbon financing while increasing energy access, creating green jobs and protecting biodiversity.
Clean Cooking was also highlighted as a priority Climate Solution and this brought to the forefront the dire need for inclusive access to clean energy resources. Projects like our Live Well improved cook stove programme deliver much more than the environmental benefits of reducing deforestation; they drive the long-term behavioural change which delivers significant improvements in family health, women’s empowerment and children’s education.
DelAgua, together with other key players within the sector attended a consultation roundtable on developing a new standardized methodology for crediting emissions reductions from cookstove projects. The Clean Cooking and Climate Consortium (4C) under the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) hosted this insightful session and we look forward to further progress on the methodology.
The Africa Climate Week and Summit could not have come at a better time; what remains now is for all concerned parties to act urgently on what was agreed upon in the ‘Nairobi Declaration’, a basis for Africa’s common position in the global climate change process.
It was great to have the opportunity to connect with colleagues including BURN, Be Zero, CCA , ACMI, investors and Governments. As the largest clean cookstove project of its kind in Africa, we look forward to working with more Governments, development and financing partners to increase access to clean cooking in Africa rural communities.
Kudos to the Government of Kenya for delivering an excellent conference and a much-needed platform to drive Green Growth in Africa.
