Staff Writer
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have called for a new approach to financing climate action to back Africa’s efforts to tackle climate change.
During a meeting in Tokyo, both organisations acknowledged that traditional concessional loans are not enough. They emphasised the importance of innovative financial tools and domestic resource mobilisation to help African nations tackle climate change.
Kariuki highlighted the Bank’s Climate Action Window as a potential co-financing opportunity for JICA.
The Climate Action Window is the optimal platform to channel resources to support climate action in Africa’s most vulnerable countries.
It enjoys a comparative advantage due to its scale and aims to raise at least US$4 billion through 2025. The Window will also be well-positioned to leverage 50 years of AfDB’s experience in supporting Africa’s poorest and most fragile countries.
The AfDB anticipates that the Climate Action Window will rapidly become the major climate finance instrument for all low-income countries in Africa, around which other public and private partners can coalesce to finance high impact adaptation and mitigation projects which are not financed through the African Development Fund’s regular resources.
The talks also focused on reviewing the progress of their joint Enhanced Private Sector Assistance (EPSA) initiative, aiming to mobilise US$5 billion by 2025 for investments in electricity, healthcare, infrastructure, and agriculture.
The meeting also provided an opportunity for the two institutions to prepare for the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Summit in Yokohama in August 2025.
JICA is an incorporated administrative agency in charge of administering Japan’s overseas development assistance focused on providing bilateral aid to developing countries through grants, loans and technical assistance.