Green powerhouse Africa is crucial for the world, says Kenyan president

The Star

African leaders spoke at the United Nations climate summit on Friday (Dec 1), including Kenya's President William Ruto who said the immense potential of Africa as a green powerhouse cannot be neglected.   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 "Turning Africa into a green powerhouse is crucial not only for the continent, Kenya's

00:06 president has said, but for the decarbonisation of the whole world."

00:11 William Ruto was speaking at the COP28 climate summit on Friday.

00:15 "We cannot afford to neglect the immense potential or ignore the pressing needs of

00:22 a continent on the cusp of transformative growth."

00:26 After a year of record temperatures, the pressure is on for this year's summit to accelerate

00:31 action to limit climate change.

00:34 And that's at a time when Africa's potential for renewable energy production, in particular

00:39 green hydrogen, has been in focus.

00:41 "Climate change does not respect artificial distinctions, traditional boundaries or old

00:48 antagonisms.

00:49 Instead, it should unite us against a shared, borderless challenge."

00:56 But this has also been a year that has witnessed catastrophic and deadly floods in East Africa,

01:02 following a record drought.

01:05 Kenya was one of the countries affected, so too was Somalia.

01:09 Intense rains there have displaced hundreds of thousands of people, adding to a humanitarian

01:14 crisis caused by years of insurgency.

01:18 Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohammed also spoke at COP on Friday.

01:23 "For a country struggling with debt stress, unlimited access to finance, fighting terrorism

01:30 and responding to a humanitarian crisis at the same time is akin to impossibility.

01:37 The case of Somalia is a clear demonstration of the intricate linkage between climate change,

01:44 peace and security."

01:47 The UN summit started on Thursday, with delegates adopting a new fund to help poorer nations

01:51 cope with costly climate disasters.

01:54 South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday commended the initiative.

01:59 However, he also added that if it is to effectively support the most vulnerable countries, then

02:05 there will need to be more funding on a much greater scale.

02:09 For more UN videos visit: www.un.org/webcast

02:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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