EU pledges closer climate change cooperation with Africa

The European Union has pledged to continue working closely with Africa to combat climate change considering that the continent is the most affected by climate change.

An official in the EU Delegation to the African Union Cristina Vicente Ruiz voiced the support at the fifth Climate Change and Development in Africa conference in Victoria Falls.

"The EU is looking forward to continue working closely with the African partners on climate change in the framework of our Joint Strategy to define, defend and implement our common interests," Ruiz said.

She stressed that climate change played a pivotal role in Africa-EU relations as shown by the bloc's substantial financial support to Africa's efforts to combat climate change.

The EU was already a major provider of climate finance where in 2013 it provided 12 billion U.S. dollars in climate finance with almost half of all pledges to the Green Climate Fund coming from EU member states, Ruiz said.

In addition, at least 20 percent of the EU budget in the 2014-2020 period would be spent on climate related projects and polices in the EU and externally, with approximately 14 billion Euros from this budget going to be spent in developing countries.

"For the EU, funding for climate action will be crucial too as many countries struggle to raise the required financing and will need help for the global effort to succeed," Ruiz said.

She said a stronger Africa-EU partnership was more imperative as the world headed to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) in Paris this December to ensure the adoption of an agreement that is satisfactory for all parties.

Africa and the EU had various areas where they were in agreement in relation to their expectations from the Paris summit and the areas of convergence included the need for the agreement to balance adaptation and mitigation and the need for a legally binding, ambitious and fair new agreement.