Event recap

On November 22, the Africa Center hosted a discussion on the biggest takeaways from the recently concluded COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Jake Levine—special assistant to the US president and the National Security Council senior director for climate and energy—delivered keynote remarks, followed by a panel featuring several experts on climate policy in Africa:

  • Kome Ajegbo, vice president, structured product solutions & sustainability at the Africa Finance Corporation
  • Sara Lemniei, chief executive officer at SLK Capital
  • Jean-Paul Mvogo, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center and author of “Developing green banking ecosystems”
  • Deo Onyango, senior industry specialist, climate finance, financial institutions group at International Finance Corporation

The conversation—supported by Rawbank and moderated by Aubrey Hruby, senior advisor at the Atlantic Council—also touched upon Africa’s priorities for COP29 and future global climate gatherings.

In his introduction, Levine brought attention to the New Collective Quantified Goal for climate finance, a “successor to [the] $100 billion finance goal” agreed upon at previous COPs.

Levine also emphasized the importance of developing value chains for critical minerals and rare earths (which are needed to power the clean energy transition in the United States) through major infrastructure projects such as the Balama Mine and the Lobito Corridor, which will run through the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and Angola.

Levine argued that the action agenda at COP29—which encompasses the nonnegotiated work including the work of the private sector and nonprofits—has become a “major marketplace of ideas” at the conference, seeing as it features innovation around nature-based solutions, reforestation credits, and more. He also emphasized that “despite all that’s been done, we are still not doing enough.” At the same time, the world has “irreversibly changed course towards a more sustainable and more resilient future,” he said.

Lemniei noted that COP29 had fewer “announcements about capital mobilization and more about alignment on taxonomy and transition plans.” She particularly emphasized the importance of Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement because it allows countries to “trade carbon credits and raise additional financing that they can channel to low carbon technologies.” She noted that is particularly important for African countries.

Onyango added that the outcomes from COP29 are “generally quite positive” for Africa. Specifically, he said, there has been a deliberate uptick and growth in the issuance of green bonds on the continent.He outlined three main areas of benefit for Africa: Article 6.4 (which helps bridge financing gaps and provide capital for small and medium sized enterprises), more attention on nature-based solutions, and a greater focus on finance for adaptation and resilience.

Mvogo highlighted that despite advances in carbon finance, many African negotiators are “complaining about the lack of results on the loss and damages fund.” Furthermore, funding for the New Collective Quantified Goal is “quite below what was asked” by African countries, Mvogo noted.

Ajegbo noted that among institutions that “have historically not had the right type of risk appetite for Africa,” there is increased interest particularly in providing “concessional financing”to African governments “for specific climate projects,” and added that there is a “huge untapped market” in Africa, “particularly on the pension fund side.”

Lemniei noted the increased interest in African climate finance investments by family offices and philanthropies.

Ajegbo emphasized that Africa’s interests at the climate conference remain fundamentally the same since COP26: localization and rebuilding infrastructure with adaptation and resilience in mind through the lens of financial innovation.

Sibi Nyaoga is a program assistant at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center

Event description

Dubbed by some as “the finance COP,” the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference will place a heavy focus on climate finance as a solution to the conference’s goal of ensuring global warming remains under 1.5 degrees Celsius. Africa’s climate finance needs are particularly acute, given the massive investments needed for green energy infrastructure. As African heads of state and government wrote in the Nairobi Declaration last year, the continent is warming faster than the rest of the world, despite it being responsible for a small fraction of global carbon emissions. These changes will gravely impact the continent’s economies and societies.

With this in mind, the Africa Center is convening top experts to summarize the biggest takeaways in climate finance, renewable energy, critical minerals, and more for Africa following COP29.

Keynote

Jake Levine
Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Climate & Energy
National Security Council

Panelists

Kome Ajegbo
Vice President, Head of Sustainability
Africa Finance Corporation

Sara Lemniei
Chief Executive Officer
SLK Capital

Jean-Paul Mvogo
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Africa Center
Atlantic Council

Deo Onyango
Senior Industry Specialist, Climate Finance, Financial Institutions Group
International Finance Corporation

Moderated by

Aubrey Hruby
Senior Advisor, Africa Center
Atlantic Council

The Africa Center works to promote dynamic geopolitical partnerships with African states and to redirect US and European policy priorities toward strengthening security and bolstering economic growth and prosperity on the continent.

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