US announces $5m grant for AfDB's fight against methane emissions

The United States government says it will provide a $5 million grant to the African Development Bank to support efforts to abate methane gas emission, across Africa.

A statement seen on the official tweeter handle of the AfDB stated that methane accounts for about half of the net rise in global average temperature since the pre-industrial era.

The grant, subject to the completion of US domestic procedures and approvals, will go to the multi-donor Africa Climate Change Fund, which is managed by the African Development Bank. The Fund supports a broad range of activities covering climate resilience and low-carbon growth.

John Kerry, US special presidential envoy for climate made the announcement at a breakfast event held on the margins of the 18th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment taking place in Dakar.

He said: “More than 25 countries on the continent have joined the Global Methane Pledge, a resounding level of support for the importance of methane in keeping 1.5 degrees within reach.”

“I am very pleased that the African Development Bank is responding to the increased global attention on methane emissions and is planning to increase their own focus on methane abatement in coming years,” Kerry added.

Additional funding was also promised by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and the Global Methane Hub to tackle methane emissions in African countries. The Global Methane Hub will contribute $5 million dollars over the next three years. The Hub funds methane mitigation efforts. The Coalition, a voluntary partnership of governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, and research institutions, will provide $1.2 million.

The Global Methane pledge, launched during COP26, targets reducing emissions of methane by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels over the next seven years.

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Welcoming the contributions, African Development Bank Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, Kevin Kariuki said the Bank planned to create activities within the ACCF to support methane abatement.

“With the support of the U.S. government, and other donors and non-state actors, we intend to create a dedicated pillar of activities within our Africa Climate Change Fund to support methane abatement including working with countries to include methane in their Nationally Defined Contributions and develop pipelines of methane abatement projects for further investment,” Kariuki said.

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The African Development Bank would be releasing a methane baseline reporting covering waste and energy sector methane emissions across Africa at the forthcoming COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

“This will provide an excellent foundation for increased focus on methane emissions,” said Kariuki.

The African Development Bank’s 2022 Africa Economic Outlook projects that Africa will need as much as $1.6 trillion between 2020-2030 to implement its climate action commitments and NDCs.

The African Development Bank has committed to mobilizing $25 billion for climate finance by 2025; more than 50% of that funding will be allocated to adaptation projects.

The resumed five-day 18th Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment(link is external) in Dakar, ends on Friday 16th of September. Organized by the United Nations Environment Program, it provides African environment minsters a forum to offer policy guidance that will contribute to strengthening Africa’s voice at the COP27.

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.