Polluter Pays Strategy

AfDB president urges “polluter pays” principle in climate financing

President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group Akinwumi Adesina urged the global community late Friday to use the “polluter pays” principle in dealing with climate financing.

Adesina made this call while addressing the media after the close of the 2022 AfDB annual meetings with the theme of “achieving climate resilience and a just energy transition for Africa” in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.

“Africa did not create the emissions. The developed countries created the emissions and must pay for the adaptation needed to deal with climate change,” he urged.

On existing global financing for climate change, Adesina urged the international community to grant Africa equitable access to the Green Climate Fund to raise the needed resources to support climate investments.

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He said AfDB, with support from the Global Center on Adaptation, had increased its climate funding to 25 billion U.S. dollars for Africa.

Ghana’s Finance Minister Kenneth Ofori-Atta called for a global climate financing framework that respects historical responsibility.

“The balance sheet of climate change demands that we seek this fairness,” added Ofori-Atta, who is also the chairman of the board of governors of AfDB.