121 gender is clear: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has estimated that gender inequality cost sub- Saharan Africa $105 billion in 2014 alone (UNDP, 2016). The Bank’s CCAP-II recognized that climate change can slow progress towards gender equality by posing a challenge to poverty reduction. It further recognized that existing disparities related to the social positions of women within the family and the community are aggravated by the effects of climate change on women’s means of subsistence. In light of this, the CCAPII framed gender as a cross-cutting issue. The Bank’s Gender Strategy (2014–2018) and Gender Plan of Action were identified as the reference points for decision-making on the gender aspects of climate change. In the absence of a clear performance measurement framework, it is difficult to gauge to what extent gender considerations informed or were embedded in the Bank’s climate change activities and investments during the implementation of CCAP-II. However, the PECG has worked with the Bank’s Gender, Women, and Civil Society Department to assess the gender impact of several projects (AfDB, 2019). Going forward, climate-gender performance tracking may improve and become systemic through the introduction of the African Development Bank’s new checklist for mainstreaming gender and climate change into sovereign and non-sovereign operations, projects, and programs, as well as the expected development of a comprehensive MERL system for the PECG. Similar emphasis should be placed on the integration of issues related to other special constituencies (e.g. youth). Private sector development and participation Achieving the scale of transformation needed to address climate change in Africa will be impossible without the involvement of the private sector. Africa’s commitments to the Paris Agreement presents a $3 trillion investment opportunity by 2030, with 75% of the investment expected to come from the private sector to complement the public sector financing (AfDB, 2018). This calls for innovative approaches to attract and steer financial flows consistent with a pathway towards low-carbon and climate-resilient development. Engaging the private sector, particularly to increase financial flows, is one of five priority areas in the African Development Bank’s corporate ten-year strategy. It is also a key priority under the CCAP-II, which highlighted publicprivate partnerships as an area of focus. The Bank made a considerable effort to increase climate finance from private sources, driving a tenfold increase in total private co-finance mobilization from $121 million in 2016 to $1,202 million in 2018. This was followed by a year-on-year increase of five and a half times to $6,693 million in 2019. The Bank also successfully increased engagement with private sector recipients, which accounted for approximately 33% of climate finance disbursements in 2019. This stands in comparison to approximately 21% in 2016. During the CCAP-II, the design and use of market and incentive-based mechanisms were also significantly progressed to scale up climate investment. Notably, the Bank set up the AFAC in 2018 to harness the power of Africa’s financial industry in deploying resources for Africa’s green future. Further to that, the Bank also launched a four-year pilot phase of the Adaptation Benefits Mechanism in 2019. The aim was to de-risk and incentivize investments by attesting to the social, economic, and environmental benefits of adaptation activities through verified certificates that could be used to increase their attractiveness to potential investors or lenders. The mechanism has the potential to speed up transformation to low-carbon, resilient, and sustainable development of host countries by giving value to resilience. The Bank aims to mobilize at least $50 million by 2023 to pilot the ABM and operationalize it for global use. Robust and resilient recovery Towards the end of the CCAP-II’s fiveyear timeframe, the African Development Bank — along with African countries and the international community as a whole — had to contend with the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Within an extremely short period, the pandemic altered the fiscal priorities of governments, lenders, and development partners. It sparked dramatic shifts in development finance, showing that even as climate change and green growth remain critical global priorities, resource allocation to these priorities must be balanced with addressing emerging acute crises. At the same time, if responses are designed, planned, and implemented strategically, they can synergistically boost resilience to both the crisis at hand as well as longer-term challenges like climate change. The range of impediments faced by African governments in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic was a testament to the need for strong governance and institutional capacity, to act as shockabsorbers, and to support economy-wide recovery. Furthermore, COVID-19 was merely an illustration of the type of disaster or shock that makes resilience necessary. Climate change brings with it ever more natural hazards like floods, droughts, pestilence, involuntary displacement, and forced migration. Key lessons and recommendations
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