In a recent report, the African Development Bank (AfDB) reveals that African countries are increasingly striving for green growth. This is the case for at least seven countries that have implemented projects to develop a green economy in recent years.
In 2018, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) signed a protocol to promote sustainable programmes and activities in African countries. In September 2022, four years later, a joint report by the two institutions named Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Gabon and Mozambique as the best performers in green growth in Africa.
“Kenya, Morocco and Tunisia, in particular, have enshrined in their constitutions the right of citizens to a clean and safe environment. Rwanda, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal and Mozambique have adopted national green growth and climate resilience strategies,” says the report, led by the AfDB’s Head of Climate Change and Green Growth. However, Al-Hamndou Dorsouma explains that investing in resilience requires policy interventions and adequate financing.
Supporting the ecological transition
The GGGI also has other member states in Africa such as Angola, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Uganda. In 2019, the organisation supported Rwanda in developing a programme for the development of ecological secondary cities to cope with the population growth in this East African country.
Moreover, this support motivated Kenya to adopt its Sustainable Waste Management Act in 2022. The text provides for the creation of a Waste Management Board, mandatory extended producer responsibility programmes, the recovery of household waste and the closure of illegal dumpsites in the country’s 47 counties.
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Togo has applied for membership of the Global Growth Institute and wants to move towards a circular economy. The West African country is completing its National Development Plan (NDP) this year, which aimed to achieve 7.6% growth by 2022. This programme was also supported by the AfDB, which announced earlier in 2021 that it would mobilise $25 billion to finance green projects in Ivory Coast by 2025. The sectors concerned are renewable energy, green mobility and smart agriculture which will create at least 500,000 jobs.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi
