For the past couple of weeks, Nigeria has experienced a series of devastating floods, causing at least 600 deaths and displacing more than 1.3 million people. According to local government officials, the country has not seen such major weather events in over a decade, as more than 200,000 houses and 266,000 acres of farmland have been completely or partially damaged.
Photographs from affected areas are hard to comprehend, with millions carrying their belongings up to the tops of their houses and getting around by canoes. There are multiple reasons for this current disaster, and climate change is undoubtedly a leading cause.
"Climate change is real, as we are yet again discovering in Nigeria," said Matthias Schmale, the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for the country, in a briefing last week.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with more than 200 million residents, epitomizes the vast effects of climate change with droughts, poor air quality, imperilled human health, and habitat loss alongside floods and rising food insecurity.
This is all happening merely weeks before the most significant global climate change event, COP27, known as the birthplace of the Paris Agreement. This COP is all about Africa, hosted by an African country, Egypt, for the first time since its conception.
Disproportionately suffering the effects but hardly polluting
Since 1995, COP summits have been the premier global forum for climate negotiations and produced the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to prevent the global average temperature from rising 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre industrial levels. Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi says Egypt will use its role as host to advocate for the interests of African and other developing nations.
African countries have contributed "essentially nothing" (3%-5% of global emissions) to climate change, yet are already among the hardest hit. Climate events have exacerbated food insecurity, water scarcity, and extreme heat, among other problems, and experts warn that they lack the resources to adapt independently. But despite pledges made in previous COPs to help fund climate adaptation in Africa, rich nations have, so far, produced very few funds, high-level African officials say.
Looking at the upcoming event's agenda, keynote speakers, and schedule, Cairo appears to have organized COP27 around the goal of increasing climate finance. This would essentially mean implementing commitments already pledged in previous talks. One of those targets is the $100 billion in annual funding that wealthy governments agreed to provide low-income countries via the Green Climate Fund, a target they missed by more than $16 billion in 2020.
Egypt's Foreign Minister and COP27 President-Designate, Sameh Shoukry, said: "As we prepare for COP27, this week is opportune to articulate Africa's priorities for reducing emissions, building transformative adaptation, accessing appropriate finance and addressing loss and damage. The disproportionate responsibility placed on Africa, which contributes less than 4 percent of the world's energy-related emissions but faces serious consequences to the lives and livelihood of its people, cannot be described as anything but climate injustice. We need bold and collective actions built on the principle of equity. Egypt's COP27 Presidency is committed to ensuring that no one is left behind."
Developing world climate financing has been highly discussed in the past decade. During COP26, it was mentioned that developed countries had not met the $100 billion goal annually. The COP also agreed on a Climate Finance Delivery Plan: Meeting the US$100 Billion Goal by 2025.
In the meantime, Africa's Development Bank (AFDB) is allocating billions for adaptation and mitigation processes, as Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank stated in a recent interview. "In 2015, only 9 percent of AfDB's total financing was related to climate change. By 2019, it was 38 percent. Now we are at 41 percent."
Power Up, let the weakened voices be heard
Across the continent, multiple initiatives, campaigns, and organizations are striving to bank on the upcoming COP to assist adaptation and mitigation efforts. One of those campaigns is Power Up, a new campaign boosting African efforts to seek more significant global funding for affordable green energy, which is essential for adaptation to the climate crisis.
The campaign calls for wealthy nations to increase climate adaptation funding significantly and to ensure a large share of this funding supports access to green, affordable energy for people facing climate catastrophe. Power Up is working to unlock more ambitious pledges from wealthy countries, starting with action at November's COP27 summit and continuing through the ongoing UNFCCC process that guides global climate action.
Looking at the negotiation plan for the COP, the team is on board. The current Chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) on climate change, Mr. Ephraim Mwepya Shitima, discussed Africa's priorities at a recent UN conference.
"We would like to see the conference reach a concrete decision on the global goal for adaptation. The latest IPCC Working group report on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, highlighted the annual cost of adaptation in developing countries from $140 billion to $300 billion by 2030. We are calling for adaptation financing to match these figures."
Today, renewable energy is the most cost-effective solution for the continent's growing climate concerns, as well as the perfect mitigator for its predominant infrastructure gaps. More than 600 million African people are living without access to electricity, and more than 900 million are without safe cooking facilities – blocking development and stopping communities from adapting to the threats posed by climate change.
Solar solutions present an excellent example of life-changing products with minimum viable costs.
Solar water pumps can make Africa's agricultural land more resilient and productive. Ignite's customers have been reporting up to 75% higher yields and more than double their incomes. Solar home systems, currently available across the continent and in the most rural, last-mile areas, are raising incomes, supporting gender equality and education, and allowing higher safety. Powering up will also help health services and improve digital connectivity for education and information, including early warning of natural disasters.
Africa has contributed the least to the global climate emergency.
Yet, it faces the most devastating impacts: disastrous floods and draughts, water shortages, reduced food production, and loss of lives. As the continent often lacks basic means to mitigate the impacts, years of progress are sometimes erased with one single flood. COP27 has the potential to show that climate multilateralism can deliver for Africa and the rest of the world. Let's make it happen.
Yariv Cohen is an entrepreneur and investor, leading sustainability-driven companies in Africa and the Middle East.