Rwanda’s Prime Minister, Edouard Ngirente, has made the case for financing adaptation to climate change with special focus on developing nations.

He said this on Monday November 1, at an event dubbed Action and Solidarity-The Critical Decade, an event hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as part of the ongoing 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26).

Ngirente is leading Rwanda’s delegation to COP26 that is taking place in Glasgow, Scotland.

At the conference, he reiterated the need to urgently deliver on the goal of the Paris Agreement and limit global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius.

"Rwanda like other developing countries, is facing the severe impact of climate change. Adaptation is especially critical for countries that are both vulnerable to climate and bearing the effects of global warming,” he said.

Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente (3rd left) with other world leaders at the Action and Solidarity-The Critical Decade event hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Glasgow, Scotland on Monday, November 1. Photo: Courtesy.

He noted that Rwanda is investing in adaptation using domestic funding or co-financing.

However, he made the case that, "No developing nation will be able to meet its goals without external financing.”

To secure global net-zero, he said, significant private and public sector finance must be quickly made available.

”At this COP26, let us mobilize the investment needed for vulnerable countries to protect and restore ecosystems, build early warning systems and resilient infrastructure and protect agriculture to avoid the loss of crops, livelihoods and even lives,” he said.

Rwanda is the first country that submitted its climate action pledges known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) last year.

The country needs over $11 billion to implement the measures between 2021 and 2030 to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

It is expected that $4.155 billion will be sourced from domestic financing, while $6.885 billion will be sourced from external financing.

Domestic financing will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 16 per cent while external financing will reduce the emissions by 22 per cent.

The plan shows that in order to obtain $5.364 billion for adaptation measures, at least $2.145 billion will be financed by domestic means while $3.218 billion will be funded by external partners.

 Out of $5.677 billion needed for mitigation measures, $2.010 billion will be domestically sourced while $3.667 billion will come from external financing.

Around 120 leaders came together in Glasgow on Monday at the start of COP26, launching two weeks of global negotiations to help determine whether humanity can drive forward the urgent action needed to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Addressing leaders at the first major global gathering since the Covid-19 pandemic, COP President Alok Sharma said: "The science is clear that the window of time we have to keep the goal of 1.5℃ alive, and to avoid the worst effects of climate change, is closing fast. But with political will and commitment, we can, and must, deliver an outcome in Glasgow the world can be proud of.”