22 March 2019: As Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, affecting more than two million people, Africa Climate Week underscored the interlinkages between the climate and development agendas, and the need for increased financial flows to African countries to combat climate change.

The event, which took place from 18-22 March 2019, in Accra, Ghana, convened in the lead up to the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit in September and the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the UNFCCC in December 2019. Discussions during the Week focused on, inter alia, cities and local action, energy transition and nature-based solutions, which align with three of the six “transformational areas” that will guide the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit.

Addressing participants, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana and Ambassador for the SDGs, underscored the ways in which climate change constitutes the gravest threat to realizing the development agenda.

A number of events took place, including a high-level segment (HLS), which underscored that inadequate investment remains a barrier to climate action. It also called for proper enabling environments, de-risked financing, and regionally-tailored financial instruments such as green and climate-themed bonds, special-purpose bonds and crowdfunding.

A two-day Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) Regional Dialogue focused on opportunities presented by NDCs that African policymakers are focusing on.

A high-level segment underscored that inadequate investment remains a barrier to climate action.

The Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) organized its annual forum for African Nationally Designated Entities (NDEs). The forum provided the opportunity to: present the latest developments in CTCN services; share national and regional experiences and best practices from CTCN technical assistance in the region; and strengthen linkages between CTCN support and other support mechanisms available under the UNFCCC to help countries achieve their NDCs. [CTCN News Story]

The NDC Partnership co-hosted an event on ‘Financing Adaptation Through NDCs’ to increase understanding on the main obstacles and challenges faced by countries, and to identify mechanisms to attract finance for adaptation and solutions to accelerate action. [NDC Partnership News Story] [NDC Partnership Event Flyer]

The Government of Ghana and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) organized the Ghana NDC Investment Forum, which discussed ways to crowd-in private sector investment for financially viable projects in Ghana that will help deliver on the country’s NDC. An innovative tool was also introduced for Ghanaian enterprises to manage their SDG impacts and increase their ability to contribute to Ghana’s NDC and the SDGs.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) announced a doubling of its climate finance commitments for the period 2020-2025. This followed an announcement during the One Planet Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, on 14 March, where AfDB committed at least USD 25 billion towards climate finance, and pledged it will allocate 40% of its annual approvals to climate finance by 2020.

The World Bank Group (WBG) co-hosted Carbon Pricing Day, which highlighted the ways in which innovative policies and programmes can mobilize climate investments, drive social benefits and reduce carbon pollution. This followed the WBG’s commitment, made at the One Planet Summit, of USD 22.5 billion over the period 2021-2025 towards supporting climate action in Africa.

At the summary event on 22 March titled, ‘Pathway from Accra to the UN Climate Action Summit,’ the Week’s outcomes were presented to Luis Alfonso de Alba, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Climate Action Summit, as input into the September high-level event.

Africa Climate Week was organized by, inter alia, the UNFCCC, Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action (GCA), WBG, AfDB, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UNDP. Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week will convene in August in Brazil, and Asia-Pacific Climate Week will take place in September in China. [UNFCCC Press Release on Opportunities of NDCs] [UNFCCC Press Release on Investment Opportunity] [UNFCCC Press Release on the First Day of Africa Climate Week] [UNDP Press Release] [The Climate Group News Story] [Africa Climate Week Website] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Regional Climate Weeks]