The African Union (AU) welcomed the Netherlands' contribution of EUR 110 million in support of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP) ahead of the COP27 Leaders' Event on Accelerating Adaptation in Africa.
The Prime Minister of Netherlands Mark Rutte announced the financial commitment during a high-level meeting with Senegal's President Macky Sall who is also the Chairperson of the African Union, Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation, and the President of the African Development Bank Group Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina.
President Sall underlined the importance of action over words as world leaders meet this week to discuss the global response to the climate emergency, highlighting that "Africa is ground zero for the global climate breakdown. Nobody benefits if Africa fails to tackle it. The AAAP is Africa's response to the climate crisis to leverage investments in adaptation and resilience not just to protect ourselves from the threat of climate change, but to drive a green economic growth agenda for prosperity."
Prime Minister Rutte said "We have to face reality: climate change is already having lasting effects. Climate resilience must be our motto, climate adaptation our common endeavour. Adapting to climate change is in the DNA of the Netherlands and it is vital that we work with our partners in Africa to ensure investments flow through the bold and innovative roadmap that AAAP delivers for climate-proofing cities, farms, and infrastructure, to protect livelihoods and to ensure economic continuity."
AAAP was developed by African Development Bank and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) to mobilize $25 billion by 2025 to implement, scale and accelerate climate adaptation across the African continent. This ambition is delivered through the AAAP Upstream Financing Facility managed by the Global Center on Adaptation and the African Development Bank's climate action window which is developed in the context of the 16th replenishment of the African Development Fund, the Bank's concessional arm that supports the continent's low-income countries.
AAAP works across four bold interconnected pillars to achieve transformational results: Climate-Smart Digital Technologies for Agriculture and Food Security; African Infrastructure Resilience Accelerator; Youth Empowerment for Entrepreneurship and Job Creation in Climate Adaptation and Resilience and Innovative Financial Initiatives for Africa. AAAP has already guided over $3.5 billion of upstream investments in 19 countries with every dollar spent influencing $100 downstream.
Professor Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of Global Center on Adaptation welcomed the financial contribution from the Netherlands, thanking Prime Minister Rutte and President Sall for their leadership on climate adaptation in Africa to mobilize the global community to honor their commitment of doubling global climate finance at COP27: "AAAP's catalytic interventions have already rapidly delivered impact at scale by mainstreaming adaptation into projects worth over $3.5 billion since 2021. The Netherlands' support of EUR10 million for the AAAP Upstream Financing Facility will influence investments in adaptation worth a further EUR 1 billion for Africa."
"This scale of impact is vital as Africa - indeed the world - is confronting multiple global shocks that are reverberating through our economies. AAAP gives impetus to the critical actions and global finance needed to address the climate and food crisis today, and to build a more resilient continent."
Speaking at the high-level meeting, the President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr Adesina said: "The EUR 100 million financial support from the Netherlands towards the AAAP Climate Action Window of the African Development Fund is a major impetus for our efforts to bolster support for low-income countries of Africa that are most vulnerable to climate change".
"It is a great start as we accelerate efforts to mobilize more climate adaptation financing for Africa through the AAAP. This is a great outcome right here at COP 27 -the Africa COP -- with a concrete action from Netherlands on adaptation finance for Africa. We look forward to other countries stepping up for climate adaptation in Africa as we approach the 16th replenishment of the African Development Fund in December." Adesina said.
