2008 Highlights

Climate change has emerged as a serious threat to sustained economic growth and poverty reduction, the quality of life, and political stability across the globe. A large segment of Africa’s population, especially in SSA and in the rural areas of the middleincome countries, live in conditions of acute “energy poverty.” In this regard, 2 challenges have emerged as priority concerns to be addressed:

• Access to energy and
• Climate change risk management and adaptation.

In response, the Bank approved in March 2008 The Clean Energy Investment Framework (CEIF). This Framework sets a comprehensive agenda for mainstreaming clean energy options, promoting investment in energy access and cleaner energies, and strengthening energy efficiency in all major sectors of the economy. Furthermore, through its partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Bank aims to further strengthen the climate resilience aspect of its operations.

At an institutional level, in July 2008 the Bank approved a fine-tuning of its organizational structure, which resulted in the creation of the Gender, Climate Change, and Sustainable Development Unit (OSUS), with a clear mandate to address these specific crosscutting areas and accelerate their mainstreaming in the Bank’s work.

Another notable event related to the climate change agenda took place in June 2008. This was the launching of the Congo Basin Forest Fund in London by the UK Prime Minister, Norwegian Prime Minister, and the Bank Group President. The Bank is playing a major role in supporting this new initiative and will be hosting the Secretariat at its Tunis TRA.

FINESSE Program: The Bank’s work in renewable energy, and specifically as outlined in the CEIF has been operationalized partly through the Dutch-funded Financing Small Scale Energy Users (FINESSE) Program. During 2008, FINESSE resources supported the integration of renewable energy into current Bank activities, as well as the preparation of standalone projects through technical and financial support to develop feasibility studies in several RMCs.

Conference of Parties (COP) Program: During the year, the Bank continued to support the COP, which in 2008 held the Conference in Poznan, Poland. The COP is the supreme body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and is responsible for ensuring that international efforts to address climate change are kept on track. As a side-event to the Conference, the Bank jointly organized with the EBRD, the EIB, and the AsDB a meeting to discuss climate change issues in relation to natural resources management. In preparation for the next Conference in Copenhagen in 2009, the Bank is supporting RMCs to develop a common position on many of the outstanding issues being negotiated, to articulate the African viewpoint, with a particular emphasis on mobilizing additional finance for RMCs.