New York, 23 September 2014
President Kagame today attended the Climate Summit held yesterday in New York during the United Nations General Assembly. The UN Climate Change Summit, hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon brought together world leaders to mobilize political will for a universal and a legally-binding comprehensive agreement. The agreement is expected in Paris by the end of 2015. The meeting was attended by 100 Heads of state as well as over 800 leaders from business, finance and civil society.
In a statement issued during the summit, Rwanda shared its vision for sustainable energy:
“We want to produce and consume more, not less. But we want to do so sustainably and affordably. Ultimately, it is about faster progress for our people.”
President Kagame and the President of the EU Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso signed the Sustainable Energy Declaration Agreement.
In an effort to create solutions to climate change challenges, Rwanda established FONERWA, a national fund for environment and climate change which has raised $75 million in one year.
The fund is considering various funding mechanisms, including research and development, carbon pricing as means to raise funds to invest in low carbon energy. To date, Africa is only using 12 percent of the world’s hydro power potential and is currently exploiting less than 10%.
Through carbon financing, Africa would be able to harness renewable energy by selling carbon credits to larger emitters. The one- day Summit aimed to galvanize transformative action in all countries to reduce emissions and build resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change. The next summit will be held in Lima, Peru ahead of the one slated for Paris.