President William Ruto on Tuesday, November 8, implored world leaders to honour their pledges amounting to over Ksh12 trillion in their commitment to helping Africa in implementing the targets of minimizing climate change effects.
Speaking during the launch of the Summit of the International High-Level Panel on Water Investment For Africa in Egypt, Ruto noted that Kenya and Africa by extension had felt the pinch of the consequences of climate change.
He cited the current drought which he stated was the worst in 40 years as one of the indicators of climate change.
He cautioned the leaders against hesitation in meeting the targets as the continent risks facing the calamities posed by the changes in the climate.
“The window for action is fast closing and the onus squarely falls upon the current world leaders to stand up as the generation that can be counted on to take hard decisions but do the right thing. We cannot afford to continue ignoring the urgent warnings of science with impunity,” the President remarked.
"I call upon the developed Parties to meet all their pledges. This includes the doubling of adaptation finance agreed upon in Glasgow and the urgent implementation of the USD 100 billion commitment," he added.
According to Ruto, climate finance is crucial to the actualization of the goals in the journey to realizing climate change adaptations.
He added that the failure of the developed nations to actualize their pledges would be an indication of negligence to the humanitarian crisis facing Africa.
Earlier in the day, Ruto had expressed Kenya's commitment to the fulfilment of the pledges on carbon credits.
As regards the preparedness of Kenya, Ruto told world leaders that the country was already leading in the generation of carbon credits in Africa.
He noted that Kenya's carbon credits account for over 20 per cent of the continent’s volume in the past five years.
“Although we are just getting started, the beneficial impact of the nascent carbon credit regime holds tremendous promise, he stated during the launch of the African Carbon Markets Initiative.
Ruto was among the keynote speakers in the COP 27 Conference which commenced on Monday, November 7. He addressed world leaders on behalf of the African continent.
