The continent is rich in the commodities needed for the green energy transition and has abundant solar power, but many governments are also burdened with"I think, for the first time, it's not about Africa going to a COP with an ask, it's Africa going to a COP with an offer," Bezos Earth Fund CEO Andrew Steer said at the Reuters IMPACT conference in London, referring to the COP28 climate summit in November.
"On the loss and damage side, we've got some really big decisions to make right now," Tom Mitchell, executive director of the International Institute for Environment and Development said at the London conference. "There is a set of vulnerable people in Africa - and other parts of the world - where the effect on them will be so catastrophic it will reach genocidal levels," Gupta said.At the same time, there is an increasing focus on how African nations can tackle the climate crisis - especially by boosting renewable energy.
"Eighty percent of the infrastructure Africa needs by 2050 has not yet been built," Gamboa said at the IMPACT conference.