AfDB’s 2022 annual meeting focuses on climate and energy

The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) 2022 Annual Meetings to be held in Accra from 23-27 May target climate resilience and a just energy transition for the continent.

The meetings will together 3,000 representatives from governments, business, civil society, investors, academia and think tanks to cover issues concerning Africa’s economic development.

AfDB 2022 meeting themes

This year’s meeting will run under the theme “Achieving Climate Resilience and a Just Energy Transition for Africa”. Alongside energy and climate, the meetings will also address the impact of the Ukraine war and Covid-19.

Attendees will be able to highlight the areas in which they require assistance and potential areas for investment for international organizations as they seek to build climate resilience and work toward energy transition.

Knowledge events

A “high-level presidential event” will explore how decision-makers can follow a net-zero pathway towards further development.  “We all know the relevance of climate change and the energy transition as we drive toward a net zero carbon pathway for achieving sustainable development. This event will enable us to be able to interrogate that specific policy position of moving toward a net zero transmission in Africa and globally and what it means for Africa’s development,” said Kevin Urama, the AfDB’s acting chief economist, during an online briefing streamed on 20 April.

Further events will focus on building Africa’s digital economy to promote environmentally-friendly growth and effective infrastructure. Attention will be paid to bringing in entrepreneurs to explore how Africa can better leverage digital and mobile banking.

Climate change and its impact on agri-food systems will be covered in a second event. AfDB has increasingly been leveraging technology within this sector and sees it as vitally important, given the increasing prices of fuel and fertilizer in light of the Ukraine conflict.

The final event will focus on green jobs for women and youth. A recent report by the International Monetary Fund found that women have suffered disproportionate economic harm from Covid-19.

Climate finance

The AfDB has made sustainability within socio-economic development a priority. AfDB vice-president, Kevin Kariuki, said the bank would fund and support African countries to become resilient both in adaptation and mitigation between 2020 and 2025.

The AfDB launched its Climate Change and Green Growth Framework at the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. The framework is the first of its kind by any multilateral development bank and will respond to the goal of allocating at least 50% of the Bank’s annual investment to climate finance. In 2021, the AfDB was successful in filling its objective as 67% of its budget was dedicated to climate finance.

As reported earlier this month, the AfDB is currently considering adding the UAE to the Bank’s member nations.