Institutional investors outline strategic priorities for COP 27 in Africa

Investment leaders, representing more than $40 trillion of assets, set out strategic priority areas and initiatives to consider prior to and during the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP 27), which is scheduled to take place in Africa in 2022.

The leaders met during The African Green Infrastructure Investment Bank (AfGIIB) Partnerships Dialogue on Pioneering Asset Owner Green Pathway Initiatives, a COP 26 UNFCCC Africa Climate Week official event, during the 76TH session of the U.N. General Assembly. Hubert Danso was the chair of the Dialogue, which was co-hosted by AfGIIB, The African Union Development Agency, The Continental Business Network, and the African Sovereign Wealth and Pension Fund Leaders Forum, in collaboration with the G20’s Global Infrastructure Hub.

According to the leaders, world governments and global development finance institutions recognize that without exponentially increasing the scale and speed of global institutional investor allocations that can be rapidly deployed and perform at the project and asset level, it is not possible to address the multitrillion-dollar financing gap for bankable green transition and net-zero infrastructure projects of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Agreement.

Participating investment leaders at the dialogue highlighted the urgent need for COP 27 to forge and implement innovative institutional investor-public partnerships (IIPPs). This is particularly important between African heads of state, ministries of finance, central banks and the institutional investment community. If these are not in place, the goals of the Paris Agreement, the SDGs, Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) would be unachievable.

During the Dialogue, African and global institutional investors called on advanced economy governments to meet and increase the pledged $100 billion per year mitigation and adaption finance commitment to developing countries. These funds are important as a de-risking catalyzer to more private capital.

Danso emphasized that the forum’s key mission ahead of COP 27 was to assist leaders to design and deliver greater public-private finance and mandate alignment and more catalytic private investment pathways that fast-track and scale private capitals’ participation in the continent’s green transition. All this must be implemented through IIPPs and special pathway investment platforms, such as AfGIIB.

Danso went on to commend the AfGIIB Advisory Board for its proactive initiatives to function as a powerful green investment mobilization sounding board for the continent. This was especially important as it prepares to take over the COP 26 presidency next month in Glasgow and host an IIPP-inclusive COP 27 next year on African soil.