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Add to Preferred SourcesAfrica Climate Week formally closed on March 22, concluding a five-day programme of events in Accra – all of which have been hosted by the Government of the Republic of Ghana in the city’s International Conference Center.
At the summary event, speakers presented key takeaways to Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for this year’s Climate Action Summit, who will carry them as input into the September gathering. These takeaways were organized around three themes, which have provided the focus of discussions at the Climate Week – Cities & Local Action, Energy Transition, and Nature-Based Solutions – and which correspond directly to three of the ‘Transformational Areas’ that the United Nations Secretary-General has specially selected to guide the Summit in New York City later in the year.
The Special Envoy reminded delegates attending the summary event, which was called ‘Pathway from Accra to the UN Climate Action Summit’, that the September Summit must deliver not a declaration, but a concrete list of actions:
“The commitment of the UN Secretary-General is to urgently follow-up with actors that have pledged commitments during the Summit on the progress and implementation of those commitments. We have been looking at this meeting here in Accra to identify actions that are relevant from across the region, such as those on resilience and adaptation.”
One trend that was highlighted multiple times during the Summary event – is that African policymakers are now concertedly focusing on the opportunities of their countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Nationally Determined Contributions are national climate action plans under the Paris Agreement.
However, as was also evident the barrier to securing this level of progress remains an adequate investment, which needs to be facilitated with proper enabling environments and regionally-tailored financial instruments, such as green and climate-themed bonds, special-purpose bonds, and crowdfunding.
Africa Climate Week is the first of three annual regional climate events this year – the latter two being the Latin America & Caribbean Climate Week and the Asia Pacific Climate Week. The Africa Climate Week is being organized by a number of core partners, including UN Climate Change, Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, the World Bank Group, African Development Bank, West African Development Bank, CTCN, UNEP, UNEP DTU Partnership, UNDP and IETA.
Original source: UNFCCC
Published on 22 March 2019