A pilot Africa Climate Technology Finance Center and Network will be established for a three-year period to support the deployment and scaling-up of both climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies.

The regional centre will support African countries in scaling-up the deployment of low-carbon and climate resilient technologies for climate change mitigation and adaptation. This will be done through enhancing networking and knowledge dissemination enabling scaling-up of technology transfer through policy, institutional and organisational reforms, as well as integrating climate change technologies into investment programs and projects.

Over time, it is hoped that this will contribute towards reducing the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Two infrastructure sectors have been selected for the pilot phase: the energy sector for climate change mitigation measures, and the water sector for adaptation measures.

The energy sector is an important contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and various mitigation measures, initiatives and financing instruments seek to increase the role of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. On the mitigation front, the centre is aligned with the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative and the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) and will support the mainstreaming of low carbon and clean technologies in SE4ALL Action Agendas and Investment Prospectuses.

Water management, with its important impact on agriculture, industry, and urban and rural populations is a key area for adaptation measures. On the adaptation side, the centre will be complementary to the bank-hosted Africa Water Facility and the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI).

The centre will address some of the key issues related to access to information and expertise relevant to the African context, such as dissemination of best practices, weak enabling environments at the national level, and lack of bankable projects.

The AfBD will collaborate with public and private sector stakeholders in Africa and civil society involved in enhancing and disseminating knowledge, improving the enabling environments and in planning, financing and implementing mitigation and adaptation investments.