ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia is taking concrete steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70 percent by 2035, aiming to address the adverse effects of frequent extreme weather events that threaten livelihoods, the country's Minister of Water and Energy Habtamu Itefa has said.
The minister made the remarks on Monday while addressing the 65th plenary session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is underway in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
"Ethiopia has committed to a highly ambitious 70.3 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035," Itefa told the IPCC, a United Nations body responsible for assessing the science related to climate change.
Faced with mounting environmental challenges, the East African country is currently implementing coordinated initiatives to achieve its ambitious climate action target, primarily through renewable energy expansion, large-scale tree planting, and landscape restoration, he noted.
"Ethiopia is living on the frontlines of the global climate crisis. Irrespective of natural variations, anthropogenic climate change has severely disrupted our natural balance," Itefa said. "We are increasingly subjected to shifting and shortening rainy seasons, which bring both devastating floods and landslides, as well as frequent, extensive droughts."
He noted that Ethiopia is currently "aggressively expanding" its renewable energy matrix by harnessing hydro, wind, and solar power, while also extending the clean energy grid to neighboring countries to support Africa's transition to green energy.
Itefa also highlighted the country's flagship Green Legacy Initiative for significantly expanding forest cover and restoring degraded landscapes by enabling the planting of more than 66 billion tree seedlings nationwide since its inception in 2019, ultimately increasing the national forest cover from 17.2 percent to 23.6 percent. ■