Circular Economy Highlighted At the Africa Climate Week 2023 As a Strategy to Reach Climate Objectives

21 November 2023
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African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

Representatives of the AfDB, members of the Africa Circular Economy Alliance (ACEA) and strategic partners during the 2023 ACEA Annual Meetings in Nairobi in September 2023

The Africa Climate Summit and the Africa Climate Week 2023 (ACW2023) rallied global experts to Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the overarching theme of "Driving green growth and climate finance solutions for Africa and the world". One focus was the potential of the circular economy as a powerful development strategy with opportunities for economic diversification and job creation while combatting climate change and biodiversity loss.

The circular economy is a model of production and consumption involving sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible.

To raise awareness of these opportunities, the African Development Bank, through its Multi-donor Trust Fund, the Africa Circular Economy Facility (ACEF) and the African Circular Economy Alliance (ACEA), a collaborative multi-country platform, organised a session on Financing Circular Economy Roadmaps. This discussed leveraging climate finance opportunities in national circular economy roadmaps.

The event highlighted the need for a holistic, multi-sector approach in promoting the circular economy. National and regional Circular Economy Roadmaps are valuable tools to create a shared vision and an implementable strategy to reach it. They enable resource mobilisation and predictable national and regional policy frameworks for the private sector to act.

Another highlight of the Bank's circular economy team's engagements in this year's climate week was the 2023 Annual Meeting of ACEA. The ACEA secretariat hosted the meeting with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through the Global Opportunities for Sustainable Development Goals (GO4SDGs) initiative. Through this Annual Meeting, ACEA continued to promote and encourage African countries to transition to a circular economy. The meeting also welcomed Chad and Mauritius as new members of the Alliance, which currently has 13 member governments.

In her opening remarks, Rwanda's Minister of Environment, Jeanne d'Arc Mujawamariya, said circular practices should be leveraged as a path towards a more inclusive, resilient, and environmentally sustainable future, that maximises natural resources, cultural diversity, and innovative potential.

Forty-one Alliance members and strategic partners participated in the meeting, including non-regional countries. ACEF, which supports circular practices in the Bank's regional member countries, enabled the participation of 20 delegates at the event.

ACEF receives funding from the Government of Finland and the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), which were both present at the Africa Climate Week. Finland's Special Envoy for Climate and Environment, Kerstin Stendahl, said: "I encourage countries to learn from each other. We in Finland are committed to sharing our learnings from our circular economy road map implementation and supporting the circular transition in Africa." She also encouraged other financers to support ACEF and ACEA to advance the transition.

As one of its main activity areas this year, ACEF, in collaboration with ACEA, supports five countries to develop their national circular economy roadmaps and contribute to the national development plans and low-carbon strategies.

Mr Aaron Werikhe from Uganda's Climate Finance Unit of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development said: "This project is a great opportunity for us to put the business case behind the circular economy. It also enables us to engage the private sector and change mindsets from polluters to the ones with the solutions."

The importance of the circular economy transition in combating the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and the key role of the financial sector is well recognised by the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs).

The African Development Bank and other MDBs continue to work together via the Circularity Exchange Network on standards, tools and products to integrate circular economy approaches into their sustainable development activities.

Media contact: Sonia Borrini, Communications and Knowledge Management Specialist, Climate Change and Green Growth Department, [email protected]

Read the original article on African Development Bank (AfDB).

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