The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has announced that Ghana will host the Bank Group’s 2022 Annual Meetings from 23-27 May in the West African nation’s capital city, Accra.

According to a statement released by the Bank Group, this year’s meetings mark a return to in-person sessions following virtual meetings over the last two years. The meetings are expected to be held in a hybrid format with participants present in Accra and online.

The physical sessions, including statutory meetings of governors of the Bank and knowledge events, will take place at the Accra International Conference Centre, AfDB disclosed.

The African Development Bank Group stated that the meetings will offer Bank governors a forum to share the climate change and energy transition challenges that their countries face. The Governors are also expected to use this opportunity to showcase policy responses to tackle these challenges in their respective nations.

The Governors, who represent the institution’s 54 African and 27 non-regional member countries, will hold a high-level dialogue with African Development Bank Group’s President, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina and his senior management team. The Bank Group bemoaned the low inflows of funds into Africa to tackle climate change challenges, whose implications have manifested in several parts of the continent, especially, East Africa. The upcoming meetings will thus, consider ways of financing such activities on the continent.

“The discussions will focus on how to boost funding for climate adaptation and related matters. Climate adaptation finance currently accounts for only 10% of global climate finance. Overall, only about 19% of total international adaptation finance is programmed in Africa, with the continent receiving only 3% of global climate finance flows”.
AfDB

Theme for the 2022 meetings

The theme for the 2022 meetings is ‘Achieving Climate Resilience and a Just Energy Transition for Africa’. This year’s theme aligns with preparations for the United Nations’ global climate summit (COP27), scheduled for Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in November 2022. It will highlight Africa’s need for increased investment and other forms of financing to accelerate climate adaptation efforts.

The 2022 African Development Bank Group Annual Meetings will be the 57th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Bank Group and the 48th Annual Meeting of the African Development Fund, the concessional arm of the Bank Group.

Africa is warming up faster than the world. Already, the surface temperature on the continent has increased more rapidly than the global average, and in the future, the median temperatures in the northern and southern regions of the continent could rise by 3.6^oC if the global median temperature increases by 2^oC, according to the AfDB.

Furthermore, sea levels have risen higher around the continent than the global average over the last three decades. According to IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, it is almost certain that sea levels in Africa will continue to rise, increasing the risk of coastal flooding. Additionally, the Sahara, the Horn of Africa, and Central Africa are projected to have heavier precipitation and corresponding increases in pluvial flooding, while Southern and Eastern Africa are projected to experience higher tropical wind speeds and more Category 4-5 cyclones.

The AfDB stated that, today, around 600 million people in Africa do not have access to electricity and 900 million lack access to clean cooking facilities, most of them in rural areas. Four in every five Africans rely on solid biomass for cooking, which causes an estimated 600,000 deaths per annum due to household air pollution in addition to the challenge of deforestation.

“To grow and prosper, Africa needs modern energy systems that address multiple challenges spanning affordability, the security of supply, and sustainability. Energy-sector bottlenecks and recurrent power cuts are costing annually the equivalent of 2-4% of Africa’s GDP, and impeding job creation, industrialization, and investment”.
AfDB

AfDB explained that the need to tackle this huge twin challenge of climate change and electricity deficits as well as their associated challenges necessitated the importance of the proposed theme for the 2022 Annual Meetings.