- Energy and Climate
Report: Revitalizing Africa-Europe Cooperation on Climate Adaptation
- The Africa-Europe Foundation
The Africa-Europe climate partnership is valued but under strain due to unmet commitments, limited access to finance, and slow visible progress in implementation. By elevating adaptation within the AU-EU partnership, Africa and Europe can strengthen cooperation to address the pressing challenges posed by climate risks while advancing socio-economic development across both continents, yielding wide-ranging co-benefits.
To forge a genuine climate adaptation partnership, both continents must build trust through transparency and accountability in climate diplomacy, finance, and on-the-ground delivery.
By COP30, the EU must fulfill its commitment to double climate adaptation finance compared to 2019, contribute its ‘fair share’ to the New Quantified Collective Goal (NCQG) while navigating the financing gap left by the US, demonstrate leadership in convening key actors and advancing the ‘Baku to Belem’ $1.3 trillion roadmap, and work towards an ambitious Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) with indicators capable of attracting both public and private investment. Furthermore, by COP30, it will be timely for the EU to set a new adaptation finance target, replacing the COP26 pledge to double adaptation finance by 2025. Achieving these objectives will be crucial for closing the adaptation gap, restoring trust with Africa, and maintaining EU’s leadership in global climate adaptation efforts.
The Africa-Europe Foundation's report,'Revitalizing Africa-Europe Cooperation on Climate Adaptation', provides a stocktake of adaptation progress and calls on leaders from both continents—now entering a new institutional cycle—to champion adaptation action in the lead-up to the 7th AU-EU Summit, set to take place in the year to come.