A new report by the United Nation’s-appointed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has pitched the African Development Bank (AfDB) higher than other six large development banks in funding climate change adaption project for 2019.
It was gathered that while the AfDB spent $3.5 billion representing 35 per cent, the European Investment Bank followed with 11 per cent of its finance in investing in climate change adaptation projects to poorer countries in the year under review.
Available statistics show AfDB invested more in the energy, agriculture and transport sectors, exceeding its target of achieving parity between adaptation and mitigation finance by allocating 55 per cent of its climate finance resources to adaptation and 45 per cent to mitigation.
The climate finance on mitigation fund invested by other development banks exceeds 70 per cent globally, however, the report underscored the need for more investment in mitigating the menace, stressing the average global temperature would rise to 1.5 Celsius (2.7°Fahrenheit) above the preindustrial average over the next two decades.
The sixth assessment report released on Monday lamented that there is still a huge gap in climate investment financing globally, even as it called on world leaders to finance more activities that are focused on climate adaptation for the people with extreme weather conditions.
The worst effects of climate change can still be avoided if humans act immediately to enhance global ambition for both mitigation and adaptation.
It also added that unless there are immediate, rapid, and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be unattainable.
“Many of the changes observed in the climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years, and some of the changes already set in motion—such as continued sea-level rise—are irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years,” it added.
The IPCC report said it is likely that climate will produce extreme events and that will be unpredictable.
