Africa’s capabilities to effectively contribute to the Paris Agreement’s global agenda of reducing the threats of climate change hinge on how fast and how well the continent can absorb and leverage the technological competencies needed to sustain climate mitigation and adaptation. The ratification of the Paris Agreement by many African countries, coupled with the adoption of domestic climate change laws and progressive efforts across the continent to facilitate the transfer of low-carbon and climate-resilient technologies, demonstrates a real and determined effort to address technological gaps that hinder climate action across the continent.
To build on this momentum and bridge existing governance gaps with respect to climate technology, African countries should promote the development of small and medium-scale cleantech start-ups that can effectively develop and deploy clean technology. By providing adequate policy backing for cleantech investments, and by adopting tax incentives, feed-in tariffs and other fiscal and regulatory measures that could make technology inflow and deployment more attractive to private-sector entrepreneurs and investors, Africa’s quest to bridge current climate technology gaps could move from being merely aspirational to reality.
