Ivory Coast will set up a green finance fund worth $500 million to accelerate the west African country’s sustainable growth, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.
Among other measures, the Ivorian government announced the fund at the COP29 forum in Azerbaijan, where dignitaries are gathered for the UN’s main forum for talks on how to address the perils of climate change.
The multimillion-dollar fund will receive money from various public sources including the Ivorian government, the UN-mandated Green Climate Fund and development banks as well as “potential” private contributors, according to the IMF statement.
In a note sent by the Ivorian presidency, Vice-President Tiemoko Meyliet Kone said the government had also agreed with the IMF to create a climate resilience facility, establish a carbon market office and adopt a climate change bill among other green measures.
Kone, who is representing Ivory Coast at COP29, also challenged the rich countries most responsible for global warming “to drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, facilitate access to climate technologies and accelerate the financing of energy transition in developing countries”.
Despite only contributing up to four percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, Africa is one of the continents most vulnerable to climate change, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
Long dependent on agriculture, the Ivorian economy has diversified in recent years, particularly in the raw materials sector.
The west African nation hopes to become a major oil and gas producer after the discovery of several deposits.
© Agence France-Presse
