The African Development Bank (AfDB) will participate in the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as COP 20, taking place from December 1-12 in Lima, Peru. This year, AfDB's efforts in addressing climate-resilient and low-carbon development in Africa, and particularly the initiatives contributing to improving access to climate finance, will be emphasized.
The aim of the Bank's involvement is primarily to support efforts to strengthen the continent's voice in the negotiations ahead of a global agreement to be signed at the next climate summit in Paris in 2015, to promote climate-smart development in Africa, and to facilitate access to climate finance for African countries. The AfDB will continue to play its facilitation role among global players and partners, from decision-makers, to investors and private companies. The Bank will also provide its usual technical and financial support to the African Group of Negotiators -the substantive body that speaks on behalf of the continent during the negotiations. Finally, AfDB will support the efforts to ensure that African concerns are addressed and represented as the Green Climate Fund becomes operational.
The Africa Day, scheduled to take place on December 10 at 11:30 am, is entitled "Africa in a post-2015 new climate change agreement" and will address the key topic of increasing climate finance access for African countries from regional and international global funds, including the private sector. The event will provide the platform to critically examine and highlight what the post-2015 climate change agreement could mean to Africa as a continent. Issues related to ongoing and planned initiatives to support inclusive and green development strategies in Africa as well as their modalities for implementation, including challenges and opportunities would be discussed.
On the same day a dinner dialogue will be held, organized by the Clim-Dev Africa programme - a tripartite initiative by the Africa Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank - on climate services. At this event, experiences will be shared on good climate information services and the relevance of linking climate services to development. Options for addressing persistent knowledge gaps with respect to utilizing climate information services for development planning will also be underscored.
The AfDB plays a key role as financier, partner and advisor to African countries to assist them in climate smart development, as well as gaining access to available resources and capitalizing on future financing opportunities. In that regard, the AfDB, under its Climate Change Action Plan, aims to invest up to US $10 billion between 2011 and 2015. These resources are drawn from the AfDB's own internal funding, bilateral trust funds and climate finance instruments such as the Climate Investments Funds, the Global Environment Facility, the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, Clim-Dev Special Fund, the new Africa Climate Change Fund and the Congo Basin Forest Fund. The AfDB's investment in climate-smart projects for the period 2011 to 2013 is US $5.2 billion, hence the Bank is on track to meeting its US $10 billion commitment before the end of 2015.
