Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa joined over 50 leading CEOs from across the African continent in presenting the Africa Business Leaders’ Climate Statement at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh outlining credible corporate commitments and actions anchored in the goals of the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Global Compact Ten Principles.
The CEOs are part of the Africa Business Leaders Coalition (ABLC), a CEO-led initiative emanating from the UN Global Compact Africa Strategy 2021-2023, committed to advancing sustainable growth, prosperity, and development in Africa by bringing measurable impact to its most pressing issues.
Sanda Ojiambo, Assistant Secretary-General; Executive Director & CEO of the UN Global Compact, speaking during the event Climate Action Now: A Critical Priority for Business Leaders, said:
“The African business community is already changing Africa and impacting the world for the better. African companies are strengthening partnerships with critical stakeholders, especially governments, to jumpstart climate action across the continent. The Africa Business Leaders’ Climate Statement, which today has 55 signatories, brings a much-needed perspective and set of commitments to the global climate table. It reflects the strong commitment the ABLC member companies have made to driving sustainability efforts in their businesses and across their value chains and ecosystems.”
Speaking on behalf of the CEOs, Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom CEO, said:
“The historic statement brings together the African private perspective on crucial topics, something that is often missing, yet quite crucial and long overdue. It also defines the overall private sector climate action narrative for Africa, tailored to the continent’s context and specific climate action and asks as seen from the African perspective.”
The Africa Business Leaders’ Climate Statement outlines key commitments companies can make to galvanize climate action through:
- Developing robust company resilience plans to improve our adaptive capacity and build systemic resilience
- Upholding the guiding principles of a just transition as central to all our climate actions and advocacy
- Setting targets to drastically increase the use of renewables to contribute to the continental goal of 27%
- Contributing to a global dialogue to advance the understanding of the ‘fair share’ principle.
The Africa Business Leaders’ Climate Statement also calls for action from the global community to:
- Fulfil and enhance the 100-billion-dollar goal by 2023 at the latest and ensure that at least 50% is invested in adaptation and resilience.
- Create an enabling environment that facilitates increased access to finance and ensures that African businesses can leverage global markets.
- Translate climate plans, such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), into pipelines of bankable climate projects.
- Promote technology and knowledge exchange to make decarbonization and adaptation technologies and knowledge more accessible
The full statement is available here; https://unglobalcompact.org/take-action/africa-business-leaders-coalition/climate-statement/.
The ABLC is a CEO-led initiative arising from the UN Global Compact Africa Strategy 2021–2023. It aims to create a stronger partnership between Africa’s private sector and the UN, in order to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063. The Ten Principles of the Global Compact are central tenets of the ABLC. The companies that make up the ABLC constitute a genuine pan-African voice with a clear potential to galvanize resources and action by the continent’s private sector. These companies currently represent a total of over one million employees; a combined revenue in excess of US$200 Billion; and a geographical coverage amounting to 93% of the continent.