Key policies and governance approach
Ethiopia has been implementing two successive Growth and Transformation Plans since 2010 (GTP I: 2010-2015; GTP II: 2016-2020) and has recently embarked in another Ten-Years Development Plan (2021-2030). In both of the past two GTPs and the current Ten Years Development Plan, creating a Climate Resilient Green Economy has been considered as one of the pillars [3, 4, 5].
Ethiopia has been sowing global example on incorporating climate change and resilience into its development strategy. The country has been implementing the Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy (CRGE) since 2011 and has developed Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Green Economy National Adapatation Plan in 2019 (NAP-ETH).
The Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) Strategy sets a vision for a low-carbon, resilient economy which features strongly in the GTP II. The CRGE generally aims to achieve middle-income status by 2025 while developing a green economy. The CRFE Strategy has been developed to avoid the negative impacts of the conventional development path, such as the increase in GHG emissions and the unsustainable use of natural resources [1]. The CRGE initiative is led by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI), and six ministries. These institutions and the relevant ministries have dedicated significant resources to the initiative and have organized the framework and process to the develop the green economy initiative[2].
Successes and remaining challenges
Ethiopia’s ambitious goals to become a “green economy front-runner” is an expression of its potential for and belief in a sustainable model of growth. It is a challenging task for Ethiopia to achieve its economic development goals in a sustainable way while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. Reaching the middle-income country status will require boosting agricultural productivity, strengthening the industrial base, and fostering export growth [6].
In addition, building resilience is the main task for Ethiopia in order to manage climate shocks. Building resilience and expanding market access to farmers is crucial to strengthening agricultural and rural livelihoods for the bottom 40% of the population, as the severity and frequency of droughts continue to increase. Recent successes in sustainable land management practices have helped to reduce vulnerability to climate shocks, even though risks arise from volatility in seasonal rainfall. The management of the climate shocks will be rooted in national programmes and line ministries while building their capacities to respond to longer term needs and acute events [1].
Initiatives and Development Plans
According to the National Adaptation Plan of Ethiopia, the country is planning to develop the green economy strategy based on four pillars [7]:
- Improving crop and livestock production practices to increase food yields, hence food security and farmer income, while reducing emissions.
- Protecting and re-establishing forests for their economic and ecosystem services, including as carbon stocks.
- Expanding electric power generation from renewable sources of energy fivefold over the next five years for markets at home and in neighboring countries.
- Leapfrogging to modern and energy-efficient technologies in transport, industry, and buildings.
To achieve successful economic transformation, Ethiopia has heavily invested in road and railway infrastructure, industrial parks, universities and the energy sector over the last decades [8].
To build towards the development of a green economy, the country has identified a number of initiatives mainly in the sectors (Agriculture, Forestry, Power, Transport, industrial sector and buildings) that are considered as pillars for CRGE. In the forestry sector, Ethiopia has been investing in tree planting and in the last 3 years alone, the country has planted about 16.7 billion seedlings under the Green Legacy Initiative. The country is also part of the Great Green Wall Initiative, an African-led movement with the ambition to grow an 8,000km natural wonder across the entire width of Africa. In Ethiopia, since the start of the initiative, in 2007, 15 million hectares of degraded land has been restored [9].
Goals and Ambitions
Ethiopia aims to achieve middle-income status by 2025 and simultaneously develop a green economy [6]. The country is committed to building a climate-resilient green economy and its plan to do so comprises of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while safeguarding economic growth (“green economy”) as well as adaptation initiatives to reduce vulnerability to the effects of climate change (“climate resilience”).
In its current Ten Years Development Plan (2021-2030), the country has set the following goals [3] :
- To increase greenhouse gas emissions reduction capacity from the present 92.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2) to 162.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.
- To increase national forest coverage from current 15.5% to 30% by 2030.
- To raise power generation capacity from renewable sources from 4,478 megawatts to 19,900 megawatts by 2030.
- To increase the length of railway lines from 902 km to 4,199 km by 2030.