The African Climate Foundation (ACF) welcomes the sixth African Union – European Union Summit this week and urge leaders to carefully consider the external dimension of the EU’s Green Deal, particularly the ‘Global Gateway’ initiative, towards Africa and to use the Summit as a platform to catalyse new, innovative and predictable climate financing.
The ACF welcomes the sixth African Union – European Union Summit, due to take place 17–18 February 2022.
The summit is an opportunity to address some of the pressing issues in the partnership and reflect on the longer-term engagement between the two continents.
While the summit is expected to officially downplay divergences on approaches to tackle climate change, the ACF believes that it is nonetheless an opportunity for the different sides to deescalate tensions and, most importantly, to reflect on a way forward that takes into account the differentiated responsibilities of Europe and Africa and puts socially just and economically equitable transition pathways at the centre of cooperation.
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“After both continents faced difficult economic challenges since the start of the pandemic, it is certainly an opportune time for such deep dialogue. It is critical to receive a multilateral approach when considering the range of issues facing both continents.
A major one, of course, is climate change,” states Faten Aggad – ACF’s Senior Advisor on Climate Diplomacy and Geopolitics.
Both continents have made significant progress in defining their respective climate agendas. The African Union has recently approved an African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy while the EU has developed its European Green Deal and has set in motion different legislative processes to introduce supporting laws.
Ensuring that the strategies of the two continents complement rather than undermine one another should be at the heart of discussions of leaders meeting in Brussels this week.
The ACF believes that Africa’s potential to meaningfully contribute to lowering emissions, both current and future, will lie in its ability to catalyse economic diversification and enhance competitiveness through clean technologies.
Therefore, the Foundation calls on leaders to identify just transition financing mechanisms that ensure African countries are offered a credible alternative to scale-up renewables.
“The European Green Deal represents several challenges for some African countries. Careful policy design is important to ensure partners are not penalised. Equally important is the ability of the partnership to catalyse new, innovative and predictable climate financing. In this respect, the partnership between the EU and Africa is yet to catch up,” says Aggad.
A successful summit would provide a platform to deliver on global climate ambitions, especially with respect to climate financing, in the lead up to the African Conference of Parties (COP) and on a mechanism that would allow for better monitoring of the partnership.