IE University x RAIA Research Program 2025

Anthony Nyong’s climate solutions are based on extensive research, beginning with his defining analysis of the institutional failures and developmental vulnerabilities that limit Africa’s capacity to adapt to climate change. As both a scientist and a legislator, Nyong has advanced a policy agenda grounded in adaptability, mainstreaming, financial accessibility, and local ownership. This section examines three policies that reflect this approach: the African Development Bank’s Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP 2016-2020), the African Carbon Market Initiative (ACMI), and the Mission 300 program for energy access

Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP 2016–2020)

One of the African Development Bank’s key policies is the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP 2016–2020), emphasizing the idea that climate change must be considered across all areas of the Bank’s operations. Rather than treating climate action as a standalone concern, the CCAP emphasized mainstreaming adaptation, mitigation, and resilience-building across all AfDB operations. In doing so, it aligned the Bank’s strategy with the Paris Agreement and broader continental goals, such as Agenda 2063, the African Union’s long-term blueprint for inclusive and sustainable development across the continent. As Director for Climate Change and Green Growth, Nyong helped in leading and implementing the CCAP, which aimed to include low-carbon development, adaptation planning, and climate risk assessments into AfDB’s larger development strategy.

The plan was anchored in four main priorities. First, it focused on increasing institutional capacity within African states to design and execute climate-resilient infrastructure. Second, the AfDB committed to conducting climate screening across all new investments, ensuring that climate risks and co-benefits were systematically accounted for. Third, it pledged to raise at least $5 billion in climate finance annually, including by leveraging mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund. Finally, the plan prioritized support for African countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.

It is important to highlight that the CCAP was based on actionable  implementation plans that were intentionally altered according to the location. In North Africa, for example, the Bank emphasized a transition toward large-scale renewable energy systems; in West Africa, the focus was on water infrastructure and early warning systems for floods and droughts; and in Southern Africa, it supported climate-informed urban development. This idea of tailoring the strategy to local needs is consistent with Nyong’s academic background in geography and adaptive capacity frameworks, which stressed that vulnerability and resilience are highly place-specific. A key tool developed under the plan was the Country Climate and Green Growth Profiles, which mapped each nation’s exposure, policy readiness, and project capacity.

The CCAP’s move toward influencing private investment flows was another important development. The AfDB encouraged investors and regional banks to incorporate climate screening into their risk assessment procedures. Under this CCAP strategy, funding for both adaptation and mitigation has received substantial attention. Forest preservation, sustainable agriculture, and renewable energy projects were some of the primary objectives of the mitigation initiatives. On the other hand, resilient infrastructure, disaster risk reduction, and water resource management were some of the major adaptation priorities. The AfDB is a global leader in adaptation finance, dedicating approximately $2.4 billion to climate-related projects in 2023 alone, with almost 60% of the investments going toward adaptation. While this figure is smaller in absolute terms than the World Bank’s $11 billion or the Asian Development Bank’s $4.5 billion, the AfDB stands out for allocating the largest share of its climate finance to adaptation, making it the top performer among multilateral banks in this category. 

A major example is the “Desert to Power” initiative which aims to use huge solar systems to transform the Sahel region into a hub for renewable energy. Over 250 million people will benefit from this initiative alone, which also aims to cut emissions by an estimated 30 million tons of CO2 every year. 

Finally, the CCAP created platforms to assist with NDC planning and implementation, such as the Africa NDC Hub. This initiative offered technical and policy support to governments seeking to revise and finance their national climate commitments. In Gabon, for example, the Hub supported the integration of forestry and land-use targets into national planning, showcasing how regional expertise can be mobilized to meet global expectations. 

African Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI)

At COP27 in 2022, the African Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) was officially launched with the ambitious objective of expanding Africa’s involvement in voluntary carbon markets. The continent of Africa has been largely absent from global carbon markets and ACMI’s purpose is to expand the continent’s share. By 2030, ACMI wants to mobilize $6 billion in revenue, support 30 million jobs throughout the continent, and produce 300 million high-quality carbon credits annually. Figure 3 further demonstrates the expected implementation timeline and overall plan. 

One of the pillars of the policy is the establishing of a clear  and unified regulatory framework among African countries, promoting transparency and increasing stakeholder interest in carbon trading across the continent. In order to reduce dependence on outside validation organizations, it highlights the importance of developing local infrastructure for certification and verification. To codify carbon laws across borders, the project is collaborating with the African Union and regional economic communities. This is also aimed at reducing reliance on said international validation bodies due to their imposed high costs and complex requirements.

On the ground, ACMI has already begun piloting projects that reflect both environmental and social priorities. Regenerative agriculture in Kenya, savannah fire management in Zambia, and mangrove restoration in Mozambique are some of the pilot projects funded by ACMI. Each of these interventions contributes to carbon sequestration, but also support ecosystem resilience, increase incomes, improve biodiversity and accumulate carbon .

Africa’s natural resources, including the forests of the Congo Basin and desert areas that are beneficial for soil carbon, were often underleveraged in international offset markets. In order to improve monitoring systems, establish national carbon registers, and certify projects, ACMI offered a continental platform. Crucially, it aimed to guarantee equitable carbon income distribution to nearby communities, supporting Nyong’s call for fair sharing benefits arrangements. 

To operationalize its goals, the African Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) published a Roadmap Report in 2022 that outlines measures to expand supply, mobilize financing, and stimulate demand for African carbon credits (see Figure 4). This framework highlights ACMI’s multi-level approach: building local project developer capacity, promoting African credits in international marketplaces, and securing advance market commitments.

In previous remarks, the AfDB had maintained that Africa’s environmental achievements were frequently unnoticed and that regulatory obstacles in the development of global carbon markets hindered African participation. In order to address this, ACMI developed simplified procedures for African nations to access carbon money, utilizing criteria they assisted in establishing. By integrating private funding with public sector assistance, it also achieved Nyong’s main objective of reducing risk adaptation finance. Because of the technical assistance facilities and policy consulting services provided by ACMI, nations with little experience in carbon trading are able to access these intricate markets with assistance.

Mission 300 Africa

In April 2024, the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank (AfDB) launched the Mission 300 programme. Its overarching objective is to provide 300 million people in Africa with access to electricity by 2030. To achieve this, around half of the target population is expected to be connected via national grid extensions, while the other half will gain access through decentralised renewable energy systems, such as solar household units and mini-grids. These off-grid solutions are especially suited to rural and remote communities, where the cost of traditional grid expansion remains prohibitively high. The programme also places a high priority on promoting clean cooking technologies to reduce the health and environmental consequences of hazardous biomass use.

Mission 300 is not a direct financing mechanism, but rather a project preparation platform designed to help African countries develop and implement their National Energy Compacts. It provides technical and advisory support to governments in identifying viable clean energy projects and aligning them with broader development goals. The programme also extends its support to areas such as green transport, sustainable agriculture, and urban climate planning. A key innovation is the “Green Finance Navigator,” a digital tool that connects project developers with compatible funders based on risk tolerance, funding criteria, and project maturity. In Nyong’s previous works on Africa’s adaptation issues, he has highlighted these institutional constraints.

The initiative also incorporates institutional support mechanisms, such as regional project planning platforms, legal advisory services through the African Legal Support Facility, and direct cooperation with the African Union. These efforts are designed to reduce risk for investors and streamline implementation pathways. A central pillar of the programme is its emphasis on local ownership. It supports adaptation plans created at the community level, ensuring that infrastructure development aligns with the specific needs of vulnerable populations. This also improves access to international climate finance institutions such as the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environment Facility, by ensuring that country-level plans meet eligibility and reporting requirements. Inclusivity is another defining feature. Mission 300 mandates youth and gender quotas in project selection procedures and provides specialised financial instruments for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly those led by women and marginalised groups.

Mission 300 fulfilled Nyong’s belief that resilience had to be accepted and applied locally. For example, his earlier studies showed that Sahelian communities previously implemented successful water conservation and agricultural diversification tactics, thus the institutional support needed to finance and expand these practices was missing. By creating a route from local creativity to programming that is suitable for funding, Nyong institutionalized this approach of thinking through Mission 300.

The three policies capture different dimensions of Nyong’s influence. The CCAP brought climate adaptation into the core of AfDB operations, ACMI tackled Africa’s long-standing exclusion from global carbon markets, and Mission 300 connected climate action with energy access and social inclusion. However, taken together, they show how Nyong’s work consistently links climate policy to broader development goals, ensuring that adaptation, resilience, and growth go hand in hand.

IExRAIA Summer Research Program:

This article is an excerpt from a report on Anthony Nyong produced as part of an RAIA research program on climate leaders. For a full picture of Ruto’s climate leadership, including the sources, read the full report. This project was fully financed by IE University’s IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs.

Authors: Luiza da Costa Carvalho Melo & Sara Tobar Herrera

Editor: Joshua Dario Hasenstab

Project Leads: Roxane de Bergevin & Stefani Obradovic