COP28: Rich nations accused of flip-flopping on adaptation finance
Baboki Kayawe | Wednesday December 13, 2023 09:52
While locally, the period 2014-2016 will be remembered as the worst of the unforgiving El Niño phenomenon, even, drying up Gaborone Dam, scientists have dubbed 2023 “the warmest year in recorded history”. Furthermore, a SADC report released early this year has warned that the 2023-2024 season will be severely dry.
It is against this backdrop that adaptation was the best entry point for Botswana in the ongoing
Conference of Parties (COP) 28 negotiations to push for climate finance gap to better adjust to these threats. However, the sluggish posture of the Global North worries the nation’s lead negotiator at the climate talks, Balisi Gopolang, who has pointed an accusing finger at the developing world for turning around on adaptation financing in favour of mitigation pathways.
Gopolang added that given the stressors exerted in agriculture, natural capital, and the general economy, adaptation was the only way to ensure coping mechanisms and oil the wheels of development for the semi-arid economy.
“We are now seeing a change in language where emphasis is being placed on mitigation rather than the initial adaptation talk,” he told Mmegi in an interview here.
Yet another dominant narrative is brokering a fossil fuel phase-out deal in Dubai. However, Gopolang maintained that as a climate vulnerable country, Botswana should continue to use and develop from her vast coal resources yet guided by the commitment to cut down emissions by 15 percent in 2030 as per the Nationally Determined Intentions (NDCs). NDCs are publicly outlined country targets on what post-2020 climate actions they intend to take as part of global climate change agreements.
Experienced in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process, which supports the COP, Gopolang further added that Botswana was well on course to draw from her immense energy resources as evidenced by “issuance of Power Purchase Agreements for solar projects, some of which were recently commissioned. The public-private sector led Shakawe and Bobonong solar plants commenced operations recently, jointly injecting a total of 4MW into the national grid. This, Gopolang added, puts Botswana on a good pedestal to realise its goal of having at least 30 percent of its energy sourced from renewables by least 2030, a target more ambitious than the country’s NDC.
“If we fail to achieve the target, the blame will be on the shoulders of the developing countries who decline to take responsibility for polluting, because through not availing the funds they are denying the developing countries a chance to adapt and transition.
“Otherwise, we are on track because as a landlocked country, heavily reliant on coal we really need financial assistance to reduce on fossil fuel.
“The pace at which we attain the national set is also determinant on our level of climate change vulnerability,” he said.
Stressing Botswana and Africa’s meagre greenhouse emissions, Gopolang explained that demands for vulnerable countries such as Botswana to immediately transition to green energy are against the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA). Established under the Paris Agreement, the GGA “aims to drive collective action on climate adaptation”. However, it also states that “to effectively measure progress, the international community must address conceptual, methodological, and capacity issues”.
COP28 negotiations ended in a stalemate on Wednesday, and a new cycle of negotiations was due to begin today (Friday) under the leadership of the COP presidency.
“We hope to make more progress in agreeing on a framework for the GGA.
“But to date the negotiations have been very difficult and negotiators have not been able to engage on the substance of the text due to blockages by some parties,” said Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio, Senior Advisor, Adaptation and Resilience for the UN Foundation.
A brief detailing the COP28 GGA targets seen by this publication quotes the 2023 IPCC Synthesis Report, which found that most adaptation action so far has been calling for accelerated implementation to close adaptation gaps. The brief contains six specific adaptation initiatives being water, health, food, ecosystems and biodiversity, human settlements and infrastructure as well as livelihoods.
“The theme targets must be of equal status to the dimension targets,” reads the brief.
“This means that the decision text must decide that theme targets be called targets. “Developed countries want adaptation theme targets downgraded to be only political priorities, statements, or objectives to make them simpler and much weaker.
“This must be avoided, because the adaptation themes are where the implementation of adaptation action is needed.”
The brief continues: “To protect people, livelihoods, and ecosystems from climate change, the GGA framework needs ambitious targets for adaptation in key adaptation themes for implementation, and a link to finance and other means of implementation to achieve the targets”.
Power Shift Africa’s senior adaptation and resilience policy advisor, Amy Thorp, called for more finance-focused language by recognising that doubling adaptation finance must only be the starting point and not the ceiling. She said this is important given that doubling adaptation finance would only cover a fraction of developing countries' adaptation needs.
Thorp said it was unfortunate that developed countries were pushing back against Africa’s need for adaptation.
“We need to place positive pressure on the USA to support targets on key sectors rather than just political priorities.
“The second long-term goal of the Paris Agreement, which is adaptation, cannot be sidelined or ignored in favour of energy or Loss and Damage commitments and pledges. They must recognise Africa's vulnerability,” she said.
Addressing the press on Wednesday, US special envoy John Kerry said the US$100 billion per annum pledge “used as a weapon in negotiations” was met last year. He was referring to the sum pledged by rich nations 14 years ago towards developing countries to finance climate change adaptation and mitigation interventions.
However, Fadhel Kaboul, an expert in economic sovereignty in Africa, has repeatedly said the goal “may only be reached this year, and has mostly taken the form of loans, which contribute to the debt trap in Africa”.
*This article was produced with support from MESHA and IDRC Eastern and Southern Africa office. Kayawe is a development communicator with an interest in science and climate journalism. She has taken a keen interest in climate change as it is an existential threat to Africa and the continent’s development aspirations. Currently pursuing graduate studies in Natural Resource Management and Participatory Development Communication with the Okavango Research Institute, Kayawe aims to be amongst the continent’s science and development communicators contributing to solution-based climate journalism