Online Reporter
Sifelani Tsiko
Fact Check Editor
Zimbabwe needs at least US$19 billion to support mitigation measures aimed at strengthening local resilience to the impact of climate change in the country, President Mnangagwa has said.
The President said this in a speech read on his behalf by the Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Dr Evelyn Ndlovu at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) being held in the Amazon city of Belem in Brazil.
The effects of climate change have not spared the country with Zimbabwe remaining highly vulnerable to increased temperatures, erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts and extreme weather events such as cyclones.
These climatic shifts threaten key sectors such as agriculture, energy, and water resources, worsening food insecurity and economic instability.
The President said Zimbabwe was committed to reducing carbon emissions by 40 percent per capita by 2030 as per its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
However, he said, achieving these goals required significant climate financing, which remained a major challenge.
Zimbabwe remains committed to the Paris Agreement and it submitted its third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) Country Statement within the stipulated deadline.
NDC 3.0 was a product of inclusive multi-stakeholder consultations, as well as a thorough assessment of the implementation of the 2021 revised NDC.
“Through NDC 3.0, Zimbabwe commits to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent per capita by 2035, relative to the business-as-usual trajectory. We increased our mitigation measures from 17 to 27 across all sectors of the economy. We are determined to accelerate a Just Transition towards renewable energy, climate smart agriculture, forest conservation, methane capture and green industrialisation,” President Mnangagwa said.
“This level of ambition, however, requires adequate, predictable and accessible climate finance. Zimbabwe requires at least US$19 billion to finance its NDC3.0 as well as technical support to build national capacities.”
Guided by the Zimbabwe Climate Change National Adaptation Plan, the country was now integrating climate resilience across key sectors, communities and development planning processes to protect lives, livelihoods and ecosystems.
The country has developed key policies such as the National Climate Policy (2017), the Climate Change Response Strategy (2014), and the Renewable Energy Policy (2019) to support climate finance mobilisation.
At present, Zimbabwe is working on developing the Climate Change Management Bill, which will include key provisions on climate financing.
Limited access to international climate funds and private-sector investment continues to affect efforts to help local communities fight the impacts of climate change.
“However, ambition without the means of implementation is insufficient. Real impact will depend on access to predictable and accessible finance at scale. At COP29 in Baku, we agreed on a New Collective Quantified Goal of $300 billion per year in climate financing by 2035,” President Mnangagwa said.
“While this is welcome, we must now focus on the full and immediate implementation of the Baku to Belém Roadmap, which aims to mobilise at least $1.3 trillion annually by 2035. Delays will only deepen inequalities and amplify the human cost of inaction.
“We also underscore the urgent need to increase adaptation finance and the full operationalisation of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.
“Vulnerable communities are already paying a high price for a crisis they did not create. For developing countries, climate finance is neither charity nor benevolence, it is a matter of equity, historical responsibility and climate justice.”
Zimbabwe and most other Southern African countries are among the worst-affected regions globally.
The countries are bearing the brunt of climate change yet they are the least polluters.
Tropical cyclones and severe thunderstorms have been the most destructive in Southern Africa, posing the greatest threat to infrastructure and displacing millions of people.
The weather – related disasters have led to huge economic losses in the region. In 2019, Cyclone Idai cost Zimbabwe US$274 million and Mozambique US$3 billion, 1.6 percent and 19.6 percent of their respective GDPs that year.
