President Ruto Calls for a Powerful New Phase of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP 2.0) at Africa Climate Summit
Addis Ababa, Sept. 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- At the 2nd Africa Climate Summit (ACS), President William Ruto of the Republic of Kenya, as Chair of Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), called for a powerful new phase of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (“AAAP 2.0”), urging international partners to step forward in support of Africa’s resilience agenda.
“Africa is in the eye of the storm of the climate crisis. This has also made Africa the cradle of climate solutions for the world,” said President Ruto, indicating that with AAAP 2.0 there is the opportunity “not just to protect our environment, the climate, but to propel our development, and also generate jobs and attract investment. We call on our partners across the world to join us in this major new effort under CAHOSCC,” President Ruto added.
The call for AAAP 2.0 was made during the Africa Climate Summit’s mandated event, “Scaling Africa’s Adaptation Action,” co-hosted by the Government of Ethiopia and GCA, with attendance from leaders of Kenya, Ghana, and Zambia, as well as representatives from the African Union, International Financial Institutions, key development partners and African nations.
Leaders at the ACS event highlighted that with the world on the brink of surpassing the 1.5°C threshold, Africa—being the most climate-vulnerable continent—must respond urgently to protect its people and economies. As such, AAAP 2.0 would aim to build on the success of the first phase, which embedded adaptation into $25 billion of investments, benefitting over 200 million people across 40 African nations, and supporting the creation of more than 1 million jobs. A new Global Center on Adaptation (GCA)–Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) report shows how the newly positioned AAAP 2.0 initiative under CAHOSCC could help take Africa into the “high-upside” scenario, where private sector leadership, innovation, and resilient economic growth converge.
Speaking at ACS, the 4th President of the Republic of Senegal, H.E. Macky Sall, serving as Chair of the GCA Board, stated: “AAAP has mobilized resilience at scale. AAAP 2.0 must be even more ambitious—reaching deeper into food systems, infrastructure, and finance, led by African institutions and communities.”
Professor Patrick Verkooijen, GCA President and CEO, added: “Phase 1 proved adaptation works—from over 200 million people reached. AAAP 2.0 is the opportunity to rapidly scale the embedding of resilience across Africa’s markets, urban zones, and food systems—firmly placing the continent to seize a high-upside future.”
AAAP 2.0 is envisaged as the world’s largest adaptation partnership, with African leaders committing to work with international financial institutions, private sector partners, and national institutions between now, the UN General Assembly in New York, and the forthcoming climate summit of COP30 in Brazil.
Representing the African Union Commission at the event, H.E. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, said: “We stand firmly in support of AAAP Phase Two. It offers exactly the kind of African-owned platform that can move us from scattered projects to continental transformation. Indeed, with AAAP 2.0 and the AU’s Agenda 2063 as our compass, Africa has the opportunity to show the world that resilience is development,” adding that Africa is “ready to lead, and to deliver adaptation at the speed and scale the world now demands.”
AAAP partner, Mr. Hans Olav Ibrekk, Special Envoy on Climate and Security of Norway, said: “Norway has doubled its climate finance contribution and we are now going to triple our adaptation finance. We have been with AAAP since the start. The new independent evaluation of the program has highlighted its effectiveness. We now need to build from there and strengthen and scale the program further.” He added that “Norway will continue to support AAAP as it moves into this important second phase.”
Partners at the ACS event, moreover, indicated that, building on the September 4–5 High-Level Development Partners meeting on AAAP 2.0, the new phase of the program is being shaped as Africa’s vehicle to deliver system-wide resilience-scaling with urgency. It will strengthen national ownership and locally led solutions, expand partnerships with regionally active commercial banks, national development finance institutions, and regulators, and accelerate efforts to embed resilience across food systems, infrastructure, and urban development.
African leaders at the ACS event, moreover, highlighted that this new phase of AAAP must move faster, go deeper, and mobilize broader coalitions—including especially the private sector and private finance—to ensure Africa not only protects itself against escalating climate risks but also seizes the transformative opportunities for growth, jobs, and green industrialization.
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Alexandra Gee Global Center on Adaptation +447887804594 alex.gee@gca.org
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