Climate Finance

The impact of climate change on the economies of WAEMU countries and the challenges of mobilizing climate finance

On a global scale, the current level of national emission reduction commitments would lead to warming of 1.5°C to 3°C by the end of the century (IPCC, 2019).

By 2050, a temperature rise of 1.5°C would lead to a 15-20% drop in GDP per capita in all WAEMU countries, compared to a scenario without climate change. Over the same time horizon, the drop in GDP per capita due to a 3°C temperature rise would be around 30% in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. In the other countries of the zone (Benin, Guinea Bissau, Senegal and Togo), the decline would be slightly below this order of magnitude.

By 2100, the three vulnerable countries would lose 50% of their GDP per capita with an increase of 1.5°C, while the other countries would still remain below a 40% loss. For the UEMOA zone as a whole, this loss would be over 60% with an increase of 3°C by 2100.

These projected declines in GDP are largely due to : i) high water and food insecurity; and ii) a higher occurrence of extreme weather events (droughts and floods) causing direct damage and/or serious disruption.

But today’s challenges are far from hopeless. On the contrary, we are convinced that UEMOA countries have the potential to seize this opportunity to develop their economies on low-carbon green growth trajectories, reduce poverty and strengthen resilience to climate change to ensure sustainable development.

To address the risks posed by various climate changes, the international community meeting at COP 21 concluded the Paris Agreement (PA), which was adopted by 196 countries, including all UEMOA member states, on December 12, 2015 and came into force on November 4, 2016. The aim of the Agreement is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature increase well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to continue efforts to further limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In addition, the agreement aims to increase countries’ capacity to cope with the impacts of climate change, and to make financial flows compatible with low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a climate-resilient pathway. Implementing the PA requires collective and individual efforts on the part of country parties to bring about economic and social transformation, with ambitious targets that are broken down into climate actions known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Priority sectors for the region’s NDCs include agriculture and sustainable land management, energy, infrastructure and resilience, and the mobilization of climate finance. The financial needs of the eight (8) UEMOA member states in response to the fight against climate change are estimated in the CDN (2015) at around 100 billion US dollars by 2030. States face many difficulties in mobilizing the climate financing available at international level for the implementation of conditional options, due to their low technical, human and institutional capacity.

The implementation of NDCs faces a number of obstacles common to all WAEMU countries. The mitigation, adaptation and resilience measures recommended in the NDCs have not yet been sufficiently translated into concrete action. These measures are not yet sufficiently reflected in sector investment plans. As a result, the mobilization of financial resources does not sufficiently meet needs. Many of the interventions contained in the NDCs ratified in 2015 remain relevant to this day. These interventions should be included in the NDCs currently under review.

Governance of BOAD's climate action

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By joining the Climate Action in Financial Institutions initiative as a member of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC), BOAD is committed to implementing actions in line with the following five (05) principles:

  1. Drawing up a climate strategy ;
  2. Managing climate risks;
  3. Promoting smart climate targets;
  4. Improving climate performance.
  5. Report on climate action.

The following actions are undertaken by BOAD in line with each principle to strengthen its climate governance.

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Environment

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Technical and financial partners

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