“African nations have been living with the scourge of climate change for many years now. But identifying bankable, climate-ready projects to place the continent on a firm path to sustainable green growth has been hard. Building local technical expertise in our banks and businesses is the first step toward identifying climate risks and solutions. It will enrich the continent’s pipeline of climate-proof projects, stimulate domestic credit and investment, and, hopefully, attract a greater share of global climate finance,” writes the CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation Professor Patrick V. Verkooijen in an Op-Ed for Newsweek.

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“Climate action at a global level makes no sense unless it helps protect people on the frontlines of climate change. We need to find ways to quickly and efficiently channel all necessary funding to locally led climate-resilience initiatives. This calls for fresh thinking and a new approach. At COP28, the world needs to double down on adaptation finance,” write H.E. Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Prof. Dr. Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of GCA.

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“Global leaders at COP28 must fulfill their pledge to double adaptation finance by 2025. They will no doubt wrangle over who should do what to halt global warming and when, and who should help the poorer states adapt. Those are big and important issues. But we should also recognize that our climate is changing worldwide, and we are all in this together. Sharing knowledge and lessons about how best to adapt our cities isn’t just a matter of being good neighbors. It is also common sense,” write Prof. Dr. Patrick Verkooijen.

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At COP28, developed countries must fulfil their pledge to double adaptation finance by 2025. Only then will Africa be able to take the necessary steps to feed itself and play a greater part in helping feed the world, write President of Senegal H.E. Macky Sall, African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, and GCA CEO Prof. Dr. Patrick Verkooijen in an Op-Ed for Newsweek.

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“Countries in the West often plead with us to invest in the kind of ambitious resilience projects we need to survive in a warming world. But in Africa, we can’t fix the climate issue unless we fix the debt issue,” write President of Kenya William Ruto, African Union Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat, African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, and Global Center on Adaptation CEO Prof. Dr. Patrick Verkooijen.

Read the Op-Ed on the New York Times website

We need more women-led and more locally-led solutions, to broaden and deepen our response to environmental problems that are only getting worse with climate change. Yet too often, women’s views are ignored. We urgently need to redress this injustice because wherever gender-based discrimination exists, climate change is making it worse, write Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Dan Jørgensen, and Patrick Verkooijen in an Op-Ed for Newsweek.

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With top scientists warning that Africa is paying an intolerable price for the impacts of climate change, it’s time for the rich world to honor its pledges on climate finance and investment, write Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations and Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation

Read the Op-Ed on Context

When it comes to climate change, there is no greater challenge than making sure Africa can feed itself, write President William Ruto of Kenya, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, and GCA CEO Prof. Dr. Patrick Verkooijen.

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Ensuring that adaptation is locally led is easier said than done – but one country is showing the way forward. Bangladesh is encouraging small-scale, locally led climate adaptation solutions and putting the funding needs of the most vulnerable first.

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Africa is the continent most vulnerable to the climate crisis, but with the right support at COP27 it can build a stronger, greener future, write President Emmanuel Macron, President Macky Sall, and Prime Minister Mark Rutte in an Opinion piece in The Guardian.

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With much of the world struggling with crippling spikes in energy and food prices, it is tempting to set aside longer-term challenges such as climate change. In an August Ipsos poll of what worries the world, climate change languishes in seventh place behind more pressing issues such as inflation, social inequality and other social ills.

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The G7 will convene shortly to agree on a common response to the multiple crises buffeting our world. War, food shortages, energy shocks and inflation are causing havoc in nations both rich and poor, but Africa has been here many times before. Through long and painful experience, it has learned much about managing crises. What can Africa teach the rest of us, write H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and GCA CEO Prof. Dr. Patrick Verkooijen.

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Climate finance is competing with much-needed relief for Ukrainian refugees. This short-sighted approach could trigger a hunger and climate catastrophe, write GCA CEO Prof. Dr. Patrick Verkooijen and 8th United Nations Secretary-General and GCA Chair Ban Ki-moon.

Read the full article on the Thomson Reuters News Foundation website

Without enhanced resilience to the grievous economic damage caused by natural disasters, many economic gains made by African nations in recent decades will be reversed, and human distress and conflict greatly exacerbated, writes GCA CEO Patrick Verkooijen.

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A foreign conflict has exposed Africa’s dependence on imports and is galvanising action to boost local food production and tackle climate threats, write Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Norway’s Minister of International Development, and Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank.

Read the full Op-Ed in the Thomson Reuters Foundation News website