Final communiqué of the Climate Chance Summit Africa 2021

The 3rd Climate Chance Summit Africa 2021 was held from 15th to 17th September 2021, entirely virtually. This extraordinary edition of our annual meeting was of great interest and mobilised climate actors, particularly in Africa, with more than 5,000 registrants and 250 replicable best practices in climate action received following our call for contributions.

We would like to warmly thank our financial, technical and media partners, without whom this event would not have been possible.

Our virtual Pitch Corner was an unprecedented success, with over 50 videos received showcasing the best of local climate action in Africa.

Over three days of the programme, we were able to hear from nearly 130 speakers, high-level experts and actors in the field who came to share their experiences and best practices with nearly 2,500 participants from 86 countries, including 46 African countries, representing ¾ of the African continent.

The Summit brought together the climate community around a wide range of speakers: elected officials from major African cities such as Dakar and Lagos, political and administrative leaders from African countries, business leaders active in Africa in the fight against climate change, community leaders who are making a difference in their respective countries, as well as donors and development banks and representatives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The observations, particularly in Africa, have often remained the same for several years. 

We must always emphasize the importance of putting inclusiveness at the forefront of our action, especially for young people and women; we must focus on the need to strengthen the capacities of actors and train them better; we must also finance « soft power », and not just infrastructure; the urgent need to facilitate access to financing and therefore to change the standards for accessing this financing, which remains too high for many actors; the importance of better balancing efforts between mitigation and adaptation in climate action and its financing; the need to rethink the links between urban and rural areas, without forgetting the peri-urban environment.

A few messages seem particularly important to us at the end of the Climate Chance Summit Africa 2021 and a few weeks before the COP26 in Glasgow:
– The future of international climate action also depends on access to vaccines in Africa; without COVID solidarity, there is no climate solidarity.
– The health crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic is also an environmental crisis, hence the importance of the link between climate and biodiversity. Thus mobilisation on climate issues must also contribute to the preservation of biodiversity.
– Like the European recovery plan, economic recovery policies in Africa, in conjunction with international donors, must accompany the necessary climate and energy transition.
– We are now reaching a tipping point, as the practice of climate action seems to be evolving from a project-based approach to one that is more and more systemic, breaking down silos and involving all the actors in a given territory. The threat posed by climate change requires this systemic response.

In the coming months, many key events on the international climate agenda are announced and will have to focus the greatest attention on all these subjects, in particular the COP26 in Glasgow, the World Urban Forum in Katowice, the World Water Forum in Dakar, Africities in Kisumu …
For our part, we look forward to seeing you at the next Climate Chance Summit Africa as part of the Week for Sustainable Mobility and Climate 2022, in Dakar, from 3 to 7 October 2022, which will be held a few weeks before COP27, in Africa.