<
https://www.energymonitor.ai/finance/are-debt-for-climate-swaps-finally-taking-off/>
"Climate change is causing sea levels to rise faster than for 3,000 years,
bringing a “torrent of trouble” to almost a billion people, UN
secretary-general António Guterres told the UN Security Council on 14 February.
“Low-lying communities and entire countries could disappear forever. We would
witness a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale.”
One country in the firing line is Cape Verde. The West African island nation,
where 80% of the population lives on the coast, is already feeling the brunt of
rising sea levels and increasing ocean acidity on its infrastructure, tourism,
biodiversity and fisheries. The country desperately needs to both mitigate and
adapt to these problems, but – as with many Global South countries at present –
simply lacks the budget to do it: Cape Verde’s debt reached an all-time high of
157% of GDP in 2021.
In a bid to address both issues simultaneously, the country has signed a novel
agreement with Portugal to swap some of its debt for investments into an
environmental and climate fund. The former Portuguese colony owes the
Portuguese state €140m ($148m) and Portuguese banks €400m.
On a state visit to Cape Verde on 23 January, Portuguese Prime Minister António
Costa announced the debt would be put towards Cape Verde’s energy transition
and fight against climate change. Costa earmarked projects involving energy
efficiency, renewable energy and green hydrogen as possible targets for the
fund."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-global-malaria-lgbtq-warriors-river-albania/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
