Katowice, Poland, 2 December 2018 – On the opening day of COP24 Leader’s Summit, Monday 3 December 2018, the global climate summit will celebrate Africa Day, a joint initiative of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

Three years after the Paris Agreement was signed at COP21, Africa continues to consolidate its efforts, focusing particularly on partnerships to ensure that African nations are able to pursue a low-carbon and climate-resilient development path through the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This calls for the developed countries to meet their responsibilities and commitments the Paris Agreement, especially with regards to providing new and additional funding at scale This is in line with the roadmap for the Africa Agenda 2063 – ‘The Africa we want’ , the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Development Bank's High 5s.

The theme of this year's Africa Day is: "The Africa NDC Hub: Going further and faster with NDC implementation in support of Agenda 2063". The programme will focus on enhancing Africa’s access to funding, capacity-building, technology development and transfer.

The Africa Nationally Determined Contributions Hub (Africa NDC Hub) was lauched on Africa Day during COP23. Africa NDC Hub is a support platform set up by the African Development Bank with support from intergovernmental pan-African institutions (AUC, UNECA, NEPAD, AMCEN) and has drawn together a dozen other development partners: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), International Trade Centre (ITC) and Climate Change Competence Center of Morocco (4C Morocco). The Africa NDC hub works in collaboration with the global NDC Partnership to deliver targeted support to African countries as they implement their NDCs.

The Africa NDC Hub with Secretariat hosted by the African Development Bank, has now developed a roadmap for coordinated support to Member States with long-term climate actions based on country-driven processes aligned with the Paris Agreement, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Africa Agenda 2063; an increased mobilization of means of implementation and advocacy; and Enhanced advocacy and effective partnerships for NDC implementation.

As of November 2018, 49 African countries out of 54 had ratified their NDCs – representing 90% of African nations. This demonstrates the continent’s level of awareness of and commitment to fight climate change. It is estimated that Africa would need about USD 3 trillion to implement the adaptation and mitigation targets in their NDCs by 2030. Despite this huge need, Sub-Saharan Africa received an average of USD 12 billion per year in 2015/16. There is urgency to shift the billions to trillions. The inability of African countries to deliver their NDC targets will endanger the global ability to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

The Africa Day discussions will focus on how to ensure that all development partners deepen their partnerships and commitments to deliver concrete actions and resources towards providing effective and adequate means of implementation (finance, capacity building, and technology development and transfer) for African countries to deliver their NDC targets and enable the achievement of the Paris Agreement goals.
Africa Day is organized at the request of African Heads of State and has been held at every COP since COP17 in Durban.

#AfricaCOP24

Contacts: 
African Development Bank (AfDB)
Faïza Ghozali, Principal Communication Officer, Communication and External relations Department - T. +225 20 26 19 34 / f.ghozali@afdb.org
Sonia Borrini, Communication and Knowledge Management Specialist, Climate Change and Green Growth Department, - T. +225 2026 5562 / s.borrini@afdb.org
Websites: www.afdb.org or www.cop24afdb.org
African Union Commission (AUC)
Molalet Tsedeke, Media and Communication Liaison, Directorate of Information and Communication – C. +251 911 630 631 / molalett@africa-union.org
Website: www.au.int 
NEPAD
Teko Nhlapho, Communication & Advocacy Officer, tekoh@nepad.org 
Website: www.nepad.org
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA)
Charles Muraya, Information Management Officer, African Climate Policy Center ; murayac@un.org 
Website: www.uneca.org