Renowned professional services firm, PwC Nigeria, issued a plea to governments across sub-Saharan Africa to provide substantial funding to combat the challenges posed by climate change. The firm warns that not acting could lead to long-term and detrimental socio-economic consequences.
Citing reports, he revealed that sub-Saharan Africa boasts a carbon intensity notably lower than the global average and even that of the G7 developed nations. Impressively, this region accounts for a mere 3% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. However, despite these figures, sub-Saharan Africa is the most susceptible to the adverse and devastating effects of climate change.
PwC Africa International Development leader, Jon Williams, while leading the discourse disclosed that many countries within sub-Saharan Africa are already struggling with the palpable consequences, allocating a significant portion—ranging from 2% to 9%—of their fiscal budgets to unanticipated responses necessitated by extreme weather events.
The firm underscored the need of providing robust support to clients within the public sector, aiding them in rectifying their fiscal course through Public Finance Management (PFM) transformation.
Emphasizing this course of action, the firm highlighted the indispensable nature of such a transformation, asserting its pivotal role in liberating domestic capital earmarked for the pressing climate agenda especially in creating an environment of transparency and bolstering confidence in the stewardship of fiscal resources—attributes that international funders always look for.
Gbenga Adepetu, Partner at PwC Nigeria, further added that African countries need around US$2.8tn during 2020-2030 to implement their climate action commitments and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
According to him, “as of last year, African governments had committed just over US$250bn of domestic public resources, which equates to about 10% of the total cost. The remaining US$2.5tn is the region’s climate finance needs. This figure is equal to the value of its total GDP during 2022.”
