2,000 participants, representing 25 African nationalities and the diversity of committed actors engaged in the fight against climate change (local governments, businesses, unions, environmental NGOs, farmers, women and youth organisation, researchers) gathered over 3 days of work and networking at the Climate Chance Summit Africa in Accra, Ghana.Many high-level figures participated in the Summit, highlighting the importance of this mobilising event on climate change.
For Senator Ronan Dantec, President of Climate Chance Association and climate spokesperson for UCLG-Africa “the success of the Summit underlines non-state actors’ ambition and need to develop new projects. It confirms our willingness to continue committing ourselves to the cause to strengthen an environment that encourages climate action in Africa”.
Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of UCLG-Africa insisted on how “the Climate Chance Summit – Africa aims to be the annual ‘pre-COP’ for non-state-actors in Africa”.
The former President of Republic of Ghana John Kofi Kufuor, former UN special envoy for Climate Change, participated in the opening of the Summit and stated “When I first heard of ‘Climate Chance’, I thought of ‘luck’ and therefore hope. Allow me to express my gratitude for your invitation to participate in this event.”
As he opened the Summit, his excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, highlighted the importance of local climate action. He declared the following “Local plans are a must, let us take action to reduce carbon footprint in our cities and make it part of the solutions.”
Hon. Hajia Halima Mahama, Minister of Local Governments and Rural Development of Ghana declared “The key issue local governments confront is finance, it is part of the discussion in this conference”
Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General on the SDGs and Director of Columbia’s Center for Sustainable Development and of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Tomasz Chruszczow Special Envoy for Climate Change, High Level Champion for COP 24, Luc Gnacadja Member of Climate Chance Association, former Minister of the Environment, Housing and Urban Planning in Benin, former Executive Secretary of the UNCCD. (Full programme here)
Coalitions: finding paths of action
During the 9 themed workshops : Access to climate finance ; development of sustainable African cities ; Agriculture, food and reforestation ; Renewable energies and energy efficiency in Africa ; Mobility and sustainable transport ; Adaptation and Water in Africa ; Buildings and sustainable construction ; Education and Training on climate change ; Circular economy, the coalitions that started working at the Abidjan Summit in June 2018, improved their roadmaps. They worked on developing precise objectives and how to ensure the coalitions’ activities throughout the year. They also discussed how to adapt the roadmaps to each country with the example of the Ivory Coast roadmap on Mobility that is currently being completed.
The proposal brought forward includes:
– the need for a comprehensive and up-to-date portal on financing opportunities for climate action
– the need to coordinate all actors working on climate data on the African continent and the dissemination of data
– the session on buildings concluded with the need and proposal to create a network of local authorities and actors, specific to sustainable housing
– the members of the Adaptation and Water Coalition are committed to conducting work to identify and share good practices throughout 2019 in order to build a common narrative for the World Water Forum in Dakar in 2021.
At the end of the Summit, participants adopted the Accra Declaration.
It calls on States to create an environment that encourages local action, banks to facilitate access to finance for local governments and non-state actors, and proposes a new approach to the necessary reassessment of national commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the contribution of local authorities (local determined contributions). This declaration acknowledges the importance of the Climate Chance Summit – Africa, an annual meeting of African non-state actors, by proposing that the common message delivered by each Summit should now be delivered under the umbrella of the Accra Climate Dialogue. – Press release
