Less than a year after the World Bank unveiled and began supporting implementation of its ambitious Africa Climate Business Plan (ACBP) during COP21 in Paris, African countries are beginning to show progress.

A new progress report on ACBP implementation, ‘Accelerating Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Development’, highlights the success African countries have had since the launch of the ACBP. As of November 7, 2016, 19 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have ratified the Paris Agreement for carbon offsetting and 45 countries have committed to implement their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). The ACBP had identified various sources of potential financing for the implementation of activities aligned with the INDCs.

The report comes as country leaders, development organization representatives and climate change specialists gather in Marrakech this week for the start of the COP22 climate conference.

“It was fortunate that we launched the ACBP at COP21, where Africa was front and center. Morocco is now taking the baton from France to ensure continuity and renewed attention to the African continent at COP22. This is the time to scale up efforts to accelerate Africa’s climate-resilient, low-carbon development,” said Makhtar Diop, World Bank Vice President for Africa.

The Bank is doing its part to help securing financing for the plan, which outlines actions required to increase climate resilience and low carbon development. Implementation estimates that near-to-medium term implementation will cost about $19.3 billion to be raised by 2020. 

“We have mobilized $3.6 billion from IDA to implement the Business Plan, including projects already approved by our Board since Paris, and projects to be approved by the end of 2016,” said Benoit Bosquet, Practice Manager for West Africa Environment and Natural Resources Group.

“The Business Plan is an ambitious and comprehensive plan,” he added. “Although the Plan’s full-scale rollout and implementation will take a few years to be completed, some achievements are already visible in resource mobilization and action on the ground.”

The Bank has been working with client countries, development partners, and the private sector to prepare programs and mobilize resources. Through a partnership with the African Group of Negotiators has helped countries sharpen Africa’s negotiating positions and spur climate action. The partnership resulted in strengthened capacity of the group to advocate in favor of climate action in Africa, and also in stronger country ownership of the ACBP. 

Bank experts, African leaders and development partners recently met to discuss the success of the plan’s advancement during the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in October. Ministers from Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria shared progress from their countries and showcased specific and ongoing and planned initiatives.

Daniel Kablan Duncan, Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance for Cote d’Ivoire, reiterated his country’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 28% by 2030, increase the country’s share of renewable energy and minimize deforestation and forest degradation through the implementation of a “zero deforestation agriculture.” He appealed to bilateral and multilateral partners to support Cote d’Ivoire in her efforts to implement the Paris Agreement. “I hope to see this historic Agreement come into force as early as possible in order to preserve our invaluable common good; the earth,” Duncan said.

Hon. Amina J. Mohammed, Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, spoke of Nigeria’s plans on how to turn their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) from words to actions. “I think the fact that we are underscoring Africa and that individual countries are in the driving seat is really important,” she said. She further emphasized the importance of long-term partnerships and investments to address the challenges of climate change.

The ACBP progress report notes that with support from the Bank and development partners, African governments have made progress in many key areas of the plan, including the ocean economy, coastal protection, forests, landscapes, agriculture, migration, transport, water, and energy.

On the Ocean Economy, the Bank teamed up with the Government of Mauritius and organized an African Ministerial Conference on Ocean Economies and Climate Change, where 20 countries attended and endorsed the Mauritius Communiqué. This led to a financial and technical package with the African Development Bank and Food and Agriculture Organization, which will be submitted during  COP22.

Agriculture is a major economic driver in Africa. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, such as agroforestry or livestock and pasture management, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity of agricultural production, as well as remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in trees and soils. The Bank Board approved 11 projects, totaling $1.4 billion in IDA commitments, reaching more than 1.6 million farmers.

The Bank also remains committed to installing 1 GW of solar capacity by 2020. Bank teams are preparing a $200 million regional project to expand electricity access to households and communities through modern off-grid electricity services in nine target countries. Another $71 million is supporting an additional 280 MW in the Olkaria plants in Kenya for geothermal energy.

As part of their INDCs, countries such as DRC, Ethiopia, Burundi and others are receiving Bank support to achieve the goals of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative, which will bring 100 million hectares of degraded and deforested land under restoration by 2030.

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Main Messages

Since the launch of the Africa Climate Business Plan (ACBP) in 2015, the World Bank has been working with client countries, development partners, and the private sector, to flesh out the ACBP’s program of work. An extra area of focus, namely climate-smart development of the transport sector has been added to the plan with investment in the order of US$3.2 billion, of which US$2.8 billion is expected from the International Development Association (IDA).

The World Bank has continued to facilitate country access to a menu of internal and external concessional and climate finance sources. The results of these efforts are already apparent and remain on target. So far, US$3.6 billion, representing some 60 projects in 33 countries, has been mobilized from IDA to implement the ACBP, including projects already approved by the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors since COP21, and projects to be approved by the end of 2016.

The Bank entered an important partnership with the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), supporting the group to sharpen Africa’s negotiating position toward the next stages of implementation of the Paris Agreement, and working together to spur climate action on the ground. The partnership resulted in stronger country ownership of the ACBP and a strengthened capacity of the AGN to advocate support for climate action in Africa, particularly in the areas of focus of the business plan.

Progress has been made in many key areas of the ACBP, including the ocean economy, coastal protection, forests, landscapes, migration, transport, water, and energy.

On the ocean economy, the African Ministerial Conference on Ocean Economies and Climate Change, organized by the Government of Mauritius and the World Bank Group, brought in renewed political push for a stronger and faster implementation drive. A US$150 million program is being prepared to reduce coastal vulnerability in West Africa.

On climate-smart agriculture (CSA), The World Bank Board approved 11 projects, totaling US$1.4 billion in International Development Association commitments, reaching more than 1.6 million farmers, and improving about 725,000 hectares of land with CSA practices.

Access to energy is of utmost importance to people in Africa. In the ACBP, the Bank is committed to installing 1 gigawatt of solar capacity by 2020. A regional project worth US$200 million is being prepared to expand electricity access to households and communities through modern off-grid electricity services in nine target countries. There is also progress toward the ACBP’s targets on hydropower and geothermal energy.

One of the key measures for adaptation in Africa is hydro-meteorological services. With US$23 million from the Green Climate Fund, a hydro-meteorological services and warning services project is being implemented in Mali, a country that is highly vulnerable to climate change.

On forests and landscapes, the World Bank is supporting several countries (such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and others) in achieving, as part of their Nationally Determined Contributions, the goal of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative to bring 100 million hectares of degraded and deforested land under restoration by 2030.

The World Bank Group remains committed to working with governments and other stakeholders on the ground in African countries, mobilizing international financing for investments for effective and efficient implementation of the ACBP.

Many countries have committed to step up mitigation and adaptation efforts under recent international agreements, such as the Sendai Framework, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Paris Agreement on climate change. These efforts will require a corresponding increase in resource mobilization.

Forty-five African countries have committed to implement their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) as part of the Paris Agreement. The ACBP had identified various sources of potential financing for the implementation of activities aligned with the INDCs.

Although, considerable progress has been made in the first year of ACBP implementation, more work remains to be done, both to achieve the financial targets as well as to leverage the additional resources needed to close Africa’s climate finance gap.

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Context: Climate Challenges in Africa

In Sub-Saharan Africa, resilience to climate variability and future change is vital to the region’s ability to overcome poverty and protect the hard-earned development progress made in recent decades. Climate drivers are involved in most of the shocks that keep or push African households into poverty. The drivers include natural disasters (such as loss of assets and disability after floods), health shocks (such as health expenditures and lost labor income as a result of malaria), crop losses (as a result of drought or crop disease), and food price shocks. At the same time, Africa needs rapid improvement of its access to modern energy, tapping as much as possible its vast repository of low-carbon sources.

The funding needs to address climate change effectively, in particular for adaptation, are high in the region, and will increase as climate change unfolds in the coming years. The World Bank and United Nations Environment Programme estimate that the annual funding needs for Africa’s adaptation are about US$5 billion to US$10 billion for a warming of 2°C, but this may increase to US$20 billion to US$100 billion by mid-century, if warming approaches 4°C. The importance of adaptation financing in the region is exemplified by the relatively high percentage of countries that have estimated their financing needs for adaptation in their Nationally Determined Contributions: 63 percent of the countries in the region have an estimate, compared with 27 percent in the rest of the world. And yet, adaptation financing for Africa remains grossly inadequate. This was documented recently by the joint Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance report 2015, which finds that in 2015 multilateral financing for adaptation for the region (figure O.1) was only US$0.9 billion.

The ACBP aims to contribute to filling the climate financing gap in the region. Including the transport component added after the Paris launch, the plan’s goal is to raise US$19.3 billion by 2020, for investments that will strengthen, power, and enable resilience in the region. The plan focuses on more than a dozen priority areas, clustered in three groups, where the World Bank expects to help achieve results in the near future.

The first cluster of the plan (“strengthening resilience”) includes selected initiatives aimed at boosting the resilience of the continent’s assets, including its natural capital (landscapes, forests, agricultural land, inland bodies of water, and oceans), physical capital (roads, cities, and physical assets in coastal areas), as well as human and social capital.

The second cluster (“powering resilience”) relates to opportunities for scaling up low-carbon energy sources in Africa, thereby contributing at the same time to improving access to energy (a key ingredient for resilience) and mitigating climate change.

The third cluster (“enabling resilience”) provides data, information, and decision-making tools for promoting climate-resilient development across sectors, by strengthening the region’s hydrometeorological systems at the regional and country levels and building the capacity to plan and design climate-resilient investments.

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» Download: Accelerating Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Development: Progress Report on the Implementation of the Africa Climate Business Plan (PDF, 8.52 MB)