The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has called for sustained financing, clear institutional ownership and transparent reporting to ensure effective implementation of climate initiatives.
Claver Gatete, ECA Executive Secretary, made this statement at the Africa Pavilion during COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye.
He urged governments and development partners to maintain climate initiatives beyond the terms of the inaugurating presidencies.
“At each COP, new climate initiatives are announced. Some make considerable progress. Others struggle to maintain momentum once the presidency that inaugurated them has handed over,” he said.
Gatete noted that climate-related impacts cost some African countries between 2 and 5 per cent of their GDP.
He added that some countries spend up to 9 per cent of their national budgets responding to extreme weather events.
He said Africa needs an estimated 277 billion dollars annually to implement its nationally determined contributions through 2030.
“However, current climate finance flows meet only about 11 per cent of this requirement.g must ease these pressures rather than deepen them, while supporting investment in resilience, energy access and economic growth,” Gatete said.
He identified institutionaL ownership, sufficient implementation financing, and transparent reporting as key priorities for sustaining climate initiatives. He emphasized that initiatives need clear targets, realistic timelines, and monitoring systems to ensure continuity beyond political transitions. A 2025 assessment by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water examined 203 climate initiatives.
He said only 28 pHe noted that only 28 percent of initiatives have dedicated budgets, highlighting the gap between announcements and implementation.keholders to learn from initiatives that mobilized investment, partnered development finance institutions and helped countries prepare investment-ready projectGatete also called for practical monitoring and reporting systems to improve coordination, reduce duplication, and enhance the use of available resources.ourceAhead of COP32 in Ethiopia, he highlighted the COP31 Presidency’s Climate Implementation Bridge, which aims to translate climate commitments into finance-ready projects. projects.
He said Ethiopia was He noted that Ethiopia is among the initiative’s first five pilot countries, offering an opportunity to strengthen project preparation and access to finance. He said climate investments should also support Africa’s development priorities, such as energy access, food security, resilient infrastructure, industrialisation, and job creation. He reaffirmed ECA’s commitment to working with the African Union, member states, and development partners to advance these priorities. To host COP32, we must put these lessons to work, strengthening the institutions, financing and partnerships needed to sustain climate initiatives and deliver results for African countries and communities,” he said.
