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Developed countries should fulfil their pledges to fund climate change mitigation programmes, Head of Climate Change in the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate, Mr Washington Zhakata, has said.
He said sub-Saharan African countries need investment in renewable and cleaner energy technologies.
This comes after the world’s top development banks pledged to increase their funding to $100 billion a year in order to mitigate the impact of climate change to developing countries by 2020.
Said Mr Zhakata: “There is a danger of accepting false promises which may never materialise. The sources of financing should be clear. We have seen developed countries reporting on fulfilment of their COP15 (the United Nations Climate Change Conference) pledges under the Copenhagen Accords, a provision that had a pledge to the tune of providing $30 billion between 2010 and 2012, to be accessible by developing countries for mitigation and adaptation.
“This was never transparently achieved. We did not see the funds in Zimbabwe and most of the region. As a country, having concluded development of a climate change response strategy with clear action plans, if the funds become available, we can significantly reduce vulnerability to climate change.”
Mr Zhakata said the climate policy under development would further strengthen climate governance in the country and create an enabling environment for green growth and climate resilience.
He said COP 21 should come up with a robust agreement on climate change that would ensure compliance on both climate change mitigation and also provision of means of implementation by developed countries for climate change implementation in developing countries.
Germany, France, the Netherlands, the United States, Sweden and Britain are among the countries that announced plans to increase climate finance.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says $62 billion was spent last year alone, but Oxfam argues that only about $2 billion was invested in helping poor countries, that are the most affected by extreme weather events.
Presenting the country’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change last week, Environment Water and Climate Minister Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, said Zimbabwe sought to contribute to an ambitious global goal of limiting temperatures rising to unacceptable levels.
INDCs are climate change mitigation actions, strategies or policies that result in the reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases and the consequent slowing down of global warming.
Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri said the scope of INDCs was to expand and promote the use of renewable, cleaner energy technologies and enhancing energy efficiency.
Online Reporter