Show credibility to leverage climate finance - Ex.President John Agyekum Kufuor

Former President J.A.Kufuor

The United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change and former president of Ghana – President John Agyekum Kufuor has admonished African financial institutions to show credibility in order to attract international climate finance to support development in Africa.

The former president indicated that international donors have had the challenge of identifying credible institutions in Africa through which it could channel funds to address the impact of climate change on the continent - due to perceived corruption leveled against African governments.

President Kufuor therefore called on African financial institutions to position themselves to leverage international climate finance to support governments and local communities to fight climate change and reduce poverty.

He was of the view that should Africa’s financial institutions such as New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD), and the African Development Bank (AfDB) continue to uphold integrity and credibility, it will put them in a better position to mobilize more funds to address the adverse effect of climate change in Africa.

Speaking at the Side Event organized by African Development Bank at the African Pavilion, amidst the Twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties , President Kufuor who is also the United Nations Secretary Generals’ Special Envoy on Climate, urged the international donor community to honor their pledge of USD 100 Billion per year by 2020 as promised in the Copenhagen Accord in 2009 to support development in developing and least developed countries.

The Twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) and the eleventh session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP 11) serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is underway in Paris – France.

At COP 21, it is expected that Parties will adopt a new legally binding universal climate agreement that would come into effect and be implemented from 2020 to as it were mitigate the impact of climate change on vulnerable countries.