"Financing and investment are the key to building resilient societies capable of minimising greenhouse gas emissions." In practice, this means that governments must open their wallets if they truly want the fight against climate change to bear fruit. The point was made by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a speech delivered at the World Climate Conference (Cop 22) in Marrakech.

100 billion a year may not be enough

In the address – read on his behalf by his Special Adviser on Climate Change, Bob Orr – the UN chief recalled that one of the objectives of the Paris Agreement is to make financial flows consistent with sustainable development. A year ago, in the French capital, governments had reaffirmed their pledge, first made in 2009, to invest 100 billion dollars a year by 2020.

The urgency of finding the funds needed for the energy and ecological transition – enabling the nations most affected by climate change to adapt to it – was also underscored by World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, who went even further: "Even if we secure the 100 billion being discussed, that will not be enough to achieve the goals we have set ourselves."

"Africa has enormous potential"

It is above all the countries of the global south that will need to benefit from assistance – including in terms of technology transfer – in order to transform their infrastructure along ecological lines. Ban Ki-moon, speaking at a summit of heads of state and government organised by Morocco's King Mohammed VI, noted that "in Africa, the rise in average temperature is higher than the global average. It is no coincidence that, of the 50 countries most affected by climate change, 36 are on this continent."

Nevertheless, the UN Secretary-General concluded, "Africa also has enormous potential, which could allow it to become a world leader in renewable energy, thanks to its vast solar, wind and geothermal resources." This is contingent on "developed and developing country partners stepping up investment and providing technical assistance."

China reprimands Donald Trump from Cop 22

Meanwhile, in Marrakech, the controversy surrounding the Trump effect shows no sign of abating. Quoted by the Bloomberg agency, China's Deputy Foreign Minister, Liu Zhenmin, reminded the new American president that it was his own Republican predecessors who launched the first climate talks, back in the 1980s: "If we look at the history of climate negotiations," the Chinese official explained, "it all began with the support of the Reagan and Bush administrations…"

Mariagrazia Midulla, head of climate programmes at WWF Italy, also commented from Marrakech: "I read in recent days that the American delegation in Marrakech had declared it wanted to return home to take orders. Now, the American president-elect has no say in the matter until 20 January, when he takes office, so it is out of the question that an official delegation would return home to take orders from a president who is not yet in office." Furthermore, "the US Special Envoy on Climate, Jonathan Pershing, held a press conference, covered by all the international agencies, in which he said the world will move forward, with or without the US."