The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) announced that at the 27th UN climate conference (COP27) taking place next week, Rwanda will engage development partners to meet the remaining financing needs to deliver on its 10-year climate agenda. Dubbed ‘National Determined Contributions (NDC),’ the climate action plan is estimated to cost $11 billion for mitigation and adaptation measures through 2030. Adaption measures are aimed to reduce risks from the harmful effects of climate change such as extreme weather events (floods, droughts among others) while mitigation measures seek to reduce carbon emissions that cause climate change. “Rwanda’s NDC climate action plan has a total estimated cost of $11 billion for both mitigation and adaptation measures throughout 2030. COP27 is an opportunity to engage development partners to meet the remaining financing needs of $6 billion to maintain and accelerate momentum to deliver on Rwanda’s climate agenda,” stated Claudine Uwera, The Minister of State in charge of Economic Planning at MINECOFIN. Rwanda plans to reduce carbon emissions by 38 per cent or 4.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gases by 2030. The measures include renewable energy, green transport, waste management, climate-resilient agriculture, clean technologies in industries, green buildings, green cities, reforestation, water security, wetlands restoration climate compatible mining, disaster motoring, adaptation to disease outbreaks, livestock and crop insurance, storm water management, floods control among many others. The measures are essential tools to implement the Paris Agreement that was signed in 2015 to cope with climate change by limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Out of the $11 billion climate finance that Rwanda needs, it is expected that $4.155 billion will be sourced from domestic financing known as “unconditional” while $6.885 billion will be sourced from external financing known as “conditional” according to the Ministry of Environment. Domestic financing will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 16 per cent while external financing will reduce emissions by 22 per cent. At least $5.677 billion will be spent on mitigation measures to reduce the causes of climate change while $5.364 billion will be spent on adapting to the effects of climate change. Out of $5.677 billion needed for mitigation measures, $2.010 billion will be domestically sourced while $3.667 billion will come from external financing. The plan shows that in order to obtain $5.364 billion for adaptation measures, at least $2.145 billion will be financed by domestic means while $3.218 billion will be funded by external partners. The Ministry of Environment says that there should be a consolidated project pipeline that guides resource mobilisation generated from NGOs/Private sector and public sectors of Rwanda’s economy. The private sector and civil society organisations are expected to also plan and execute projects that contribute to the ten-year climate plan by integrating climate change in all projects they implement. “If measures are not taken, climate change could erode one per cent of our GDP every year,” said Teddy Mugabo, the CEO of Rwanda Green Fund, known as FONERWA-which is part of designing a strategy to mobilise the needed funds. Juliet Kabera, the Director General of Rwanda Environment Management Authority, stated that the funds are needed to also restore degraded ecosystems. “By doing so, we can halt degradation, improve ecosystem services, revive biodiversity and build resilience to climate change,” she said. “This COP27 we call for innovation in climate finance, doing nothing will result in losses of more than 5 per cent of GDP by 2050. Water-related disasters including soil erosion already cost Rwanda more than 2 % of GDP,” stated Bernard Musana, the Head of the Knowledge and Forecasting Hub at Rwanda Water Resources Board.
