EVENTS
Resolving the trillion dollar question
The OPEC Fund launches the Climate Solutions Week as a new platform for development partners to take the next step in fighting global warming
Climate Solutions Week
A global crisis requires a global response. The OPEC Fund launched its first Climate Solutions Week in April with a series of high-profile remarks by senior representatives of development institutions. President Abdulhamid Alkhalifa urged partners to focus their e ff orts: “Although the international community has raised ambitions and targets, delivery remains far from what is needed,” he warned. How to close the climate finance gap has indeed become the trillion dollar question of our times. “The climate crisis is the world’s most pressing challenge,” said Fatou Haidara, Deputy to the Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). According to expert estimates, US$8 trillion are currently needed every year, a staggering amount that is set to rise to US$10 trillion by 2030. Urgent action is needed to avoid further damage and reverse trends such as rising global temperatures. “Humanity is currently facing a triple environmental crisis that seriously threatens our survival on earth,” said Gabon’s Minister of Environment, Climate and Human-Wildlife Conflict, Arcadie Svetlana Minguengui Ndomba epse N’zoma. “This crisis is characterized by a loss of biodiversity, pollution and climate change.” One response to these challenges is technology. Rafael Mariano Grossi,
tackle the crisis: “We need an approach that involves shared responsibility, a firm commitment to equity and environmental justice, the enhancement of natural capital and taking into account our specific characteristics as a developing country,” Minister Minguengui Ndomba epse N’zoma warned. But Africa is not only facing huge challenges. “Africa has the highest potential in terms of renewable sources of energy,” said Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). He reported huge momentum towards renewables, which last year accounted for 87 percent of all newly installed capacity. However, distribution remains unequal: Only 14 percent of new renewable facilities were added in developing countries. Austria’s Minister for Climate Action, Leonore Gewessler, joined the calls for urgent action: “History will judge us,” she reminded participants. She hailed the outcomes of the UN climate change conference COP28 in Dubai and the “transition away from fossil fuels.” While she lauded the commitment of producers of traditional forms of energy carriers, she urged more: “You are not in the centre of the energy transition.” Following high-level introductory sessions, the Climate Solutions Week later broke into a series of specific panels
Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said: “We need intelligent and integrated cooperation, where we can align di ff erent technologies so that they can be deployed in the most e ff ective and meaningful way.” As an example he mentioned recent activities by the IAEA to fight soil degradation in Africa. The continent’s fate is a telling example that climate change is also a question of fairness and equity. Africa accounts for the smallest share of global greenhouse gas emissions at just 3.8 percent, yet is worst a ff ected by the impact of climate change and has the fewest resources to
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