A decade after the promulgation of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperatures below 2°C and ideally 1.5°C, African countries are stepping up efforts to hold themselves accountable under a pioneering partnership to ensure progress on their climate commitments.
The initiative, led by the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), together with the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) and the West African Green Economic Development Institute (WAGEDI), introduced the continent's first NDC implementation Index - a diagnostic tool to track how countries are delivering on their Nationally Determined Contributions.
Funded by the African Development Bank's Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF), the project covers 12 Sub-Saharan African countries: Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Index evaluates progress across five pillars of the Paris Agreement: governance, finance and technology transfer, adaptation, mitigation, and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV). An online platform has also been launched, making national climate action progress visible and comparable across countries.
"This project is important because, as countries prepare their next round of NDCs, they need to independently assess progress and identify gaps. Only then can they set sound, evidence-based targets for NDC 3.0," said Rita Effah, ACCF Coordinator at the African Development Bank.
The programme also focuses on capacity building, with government officials and climate officers trained in data collection, evaluation, and reporting. In addition, 72 "climate champions" from research institutions and civil society are being trained to help governments align national data with NDC targets.
The project supports the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action). While some countries still face challenges of data infrastructure and long-term planning, the initiative marks a step toward greater transparency and accountability in Africa's climate governance.
Looking ahead, partners aim to expand the platform beyond the initial 12 countries, enabling a continent-wide approach to tracking NDC implementation.
Click here for further information on the NDC index.
