Jan. 4, 2022

In recent years, the increased demand for private vehicles in Africa especially in rapidly growing urban communities has led to a greater number of cars on the road.

The increased and continuous use of private cars has caused extreme traffic, air pollution, noise pollution, and road accidents.

In fact, in urban areas, the mobility sector is estimated to account for a significant amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane.

It then becomes important for governments in the continent to develop and promote more sustainable public transport options that not only mitigate pollution and congestion but are affordable and accessible.

This would also mean a shift from private mobility to public mobility to reduce air pollution and road congestion.

For African governments to mitigate the climate impact of urbanization and encourage commuters to shift from private to public transport, they need to finance the mobility sector to help public transport operators seamlessly transition to green buses, a move necessary for green public mobility adoption.

However, the adoption and expansion of green public mobility in Africa are constrained by a number of challenges, one of which is financing especially for local bus operators who are often faced with financing challenges and as such, risk operating at a loss without government subsidies.

This is because government subsidies will ensure that fares are kept low to enable affordability.

To reduce green public mobility costs, governments can set up leasing programs aimed at providing low-cost, efficient, and clean buses.

These leasing programs will enable bus operators to access additional financing with competitive rates and longer tenors than bank loans.

This makes leasing an effective financing instrument for facilitating access to long-term funding for green public mobility.

Therefore, the leasing industry in Africa must be developed by directly financing it especially for the viability of leasing for the deployment of clean buses. This will contribute to the success of green initiatives in Africa.

Courtesy: Climateaction.africa