This committee; a collaboration between the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with financial support from the Clean Cooling Collaborative (CCC), aims to propel energy-efficient and climate-friendly cooling solutions across Nigeria.

Bringing together experts from various organisations, the technical committee serves as a platform for collaboration, knowledge sharing and strategy development, to scale up sustainable cooling practices.

The meeting provided a forum for stakeholders to align their efforts, ensuring a unified approach to achieving the climate-friendly cooling solutions project’s objectives.

Dr. Mustapha Abdullahi, the director-general of the ECN, the implementing institution for the project, highlighted the committee’s overarching goal.

He emphasised that the primary objective is to accelerate the adoption of energy-efficient air conditioners with climate-friendly, low-GWP (global warming potential) refrigerants in residential, commercial and public buildings.

This strategic shift aims to contribute significantly to Nigeria’s climate targets as outlined in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

The meeting marks a crucial step in the implementation of the sustainable cooling project, emphasising the commitment of both ECN and UNEP to advancing climate-friendly solutions in Nigeria.

By fostering collaboration among experts and stakeholders, the committee ensures a comprehensive and sustainable approach to meeting climate targets in the country.

As the project moves forward, the collaborative efforts of the committee will play a pivotal role in navigating the challenges associated with transitioning to energy-efficient and climate-friendly cooling solutions.

The commitment to a cost-effective and sustainable transition underscores the importance of aligning climate goals with practical, implementable strategies.

The committee meeting signified a concerted effort to drive positive change in Nigeria’s cooling practices.

By leveraging the expertise of diverse stakeholders, ECN and UNEP aim to contribute meaningfully to the country’s climate resilience and sustainability.

The project’s success hinges on such collaborative endeavours, reflecting a shared commitment to address climate challenges through innovative and impactful initiatives.

The study shows that total annual climate finance flows in Africa for 2020, domestic and international, were only USD 30 billion, just 12% of the amount needed.

The financing gap is significant: All African countries together have a GDP of USD 2.4 trillion (World Bank 2021), implying that 10% of Africa’s current annual GDP needs to be mobilized above and beyond current flows every year for the next 10 years.

Key takeaways from the analysis include:

Africa needs approximately USD 2.8 trillion between 2020 and 2030 to implement its NDCs.

Out of this USD 2.5 trillion must come from international public sources and the domestic and international private sectors.

These needs represent 10% of Africa’s total annual GDP.

South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Egypt have the highest needs per year, together representing almost USD 151 billion per year

These needs as percentage of GDP vary across countries. For instance, South Africa and Ethiopia have needs of 32% and 23% of their GDP, respectively. While Nigeria needs (USD 12 billion) are only 3% of the national GDP.

Similarly, Egypt estimates needs of around USD 7.3 billion, less than 2% of its GDP.

Adaptation accounted for only 24% of total climate finance needs identified, despite Africa being highly vulnerable to climate change and calls for a better balance of finance between mitigation and adaptation. Adaptation needs are likely to be underestimated due to a lack of data and technical expertise to estimate the true cost of adaptation measures.

Mitigation accounts for the largest share of reported needs in 2020-2030, at 66% of total climate finance needs

Mitigation needs are predominantly split across four sectors: transport (58%), energy (24%), industry (7%), and agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) (9%). However, results are heavily weighted to a few countries, in particular South Africa, which accounts for most transport needs.

Excluding South Africa, the composition of mitigation needs per sector is energy (39%), AFOLU (27%), industry (20%), and transport (10%).

The private sector has significant potential to meet Africa’s climate finance needs

Public funding alone will not be sufficient, given the magnitude of investments needed, and current and future constraints on public domestic resources in Africa.

However, most current climate financing in Africa is from public actors (87%, USD 20 billion) with limited finance from private actors.

To mobilize private finance, public actors need to improve policy frameworks and investment environments and deploy concessional financing to target investment barriers

Investment barriers are typically context specific but can include technology-specific barriers such as uncertainty with respect to performance; policy barriers such as uncertain permitting processes; investment environment barriers such as lack of liquid financial markets; and bankability barriers such as off-taker creditworthiness and high debt costs.