CCAC and UNGA: Initial funding commitment for the Africa Clean Air Program

I was invited to participate in the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Ministerial held on the margins of the UN General Assembly. The CCAC Ministerial is an annual high-level meeting of ministers representing focal institutions of CCAC state partners, and heads of non-state partner institutions including International NGOs, intergovernmental organisations, and UN Agencies. I represented AirQo as a non-state partner since the first ministerial at COP28, in Dubai, in 2023. This year’s ministerial also comes against the backdrop of the recently adopted UNEA 6/10 resolution on regional cooperation for clean air for which AirQo was a key player.

Our intervention acknowledged the incremental progress by the CCAC partners in tackling air pollution, particularly the recent adoption of the UNEA-6/10 resolution, in addition to highlighting how our broad-based collaboration through the CLEAN-Air Network, is advancing regional collaborations for clean air actions in African cities, as seen with the incredible success of this year’s CLEAN-Air Forum in Lagos which brought together over 80 policymakers and over 200 global experts from 31 countries. An excerpt of the AirQo intervention will be published on the CCAC website

Another key highlight of the ministerial was the launch of the funding for the Africa clean air programme announced by Dr Nkiruka Maduekwe, Director General of Nigeria’s National Council for Climate Change.

The Ministerial ended with the adoption of the New York "Now We Can: Supercharging Action on Super Pollutants" Communique with three commitments

1. Tackling super pollutants, with existing and cost-effective measures to help avoid the worst of the climate crisis and clean the air we breathe.
2. Working together, across both the public and private sectors and across all levels of government, to lower superpollutant emissions from key sectors.
3. Catalyzing climate finance to support action on super pollutants, e.g. including by integrating SLCP mitigation measures in the design of NDCs and urgently scaling up investments from all sources in this critical area.

New York Climate Week

For over seven days, several climate-related activities including meetings, conferences and workshops attracted a global audience. Cities are the engines of global economies and mayors often have to confront the choices, seen as a delicate balance between protecting livelihoods and conserving the environment. A city like New York offers a unique forum to meaningfully interrogate the realities of climate in an urban context.

I had the privilege to directly participate in events at the NEST Climate Campus that sought to unpack some of the intricate climate issues including showcasing some of the progressive and green technological innovations.

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