The African Development Bank’s Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF) has secured €3 million from the Irish and Austrian governments to accelerate climate action initiatives across the African continent.
The ACCF is a multi-donor trust fund, developed in 2014 by the AfDB, which provides African countries with financial and technical aid to help them enhance their resilience to climate change.
Ireland and Austria join a strong list of ACCF donors including Belgium, Canada, the Global Center on Adaptation and Italy, with the countries contributing €2 million and €1 million towards ACCF’s efforts to enhance Africa’s climate resilience, respectively.
The donation from Ireland forms part of the country’s efforts to double its climate financing in developing countries by 2025, and supports the activities of the AfDB’s Africa Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) Hub.
Harald Waiglein, Austria’s Director General of the Federal Ministry, stated that the funds will go towards “the development and update of NDCs and Long-Term Climate Strategies of African countries.”
The AfDB will leverage the contributions to fund projects which the bank has identified through the ACCF’s third call for proposals, in which the bank is targeting to support women-led programs aimed at reducing the continent’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Since inception, ACCF has grown from a €4.725 million project to a $28.8 million fund, providing 27 grants worth $16.89 million and completing seven projects which have boosted climate finance in 26 countries.
