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From 1–6 September 2025, Climate Week in Addis Ababa will bring together negotiators with implementers in government and the real economy, alongside financiers, businesses, civil society, and Indigenous Peoples.
The aim is to help speed up climate action by translating pledges into solutions that deliver tangible benefits for people.
Organized by UN Climate Change and hosted by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, this will be the second Climate Week (CW2) of 2025, following the refreshed model launched earlier in the year.
The gathering is positioned as a bridge between promises made in global climate negotiations and practical, implementable strategies that drive sustainable development.
At the heart of CW2 lies a recognition that climate action is no longer only about setting targets or making commitments.
It is about implementing policies and practices that contribute directly to stronger economic growth, more affordable energy, better health, and improved living standards.
Showcasing Practical Solutions
A defining feature of Climate Week is its focus on real-world solutions that can be scaled and replicated.
Examples to be highlighted in Addis Ababa range from community recycling projects in Kenya that tackle waste while creating green jobs, to innovative green bond financing in Morocco that is channelling capital into clean energy and infrastructure.
The event will also explore how digital platforms are being deployed to track climate ambition and accountability across regions.
“Climate Weeks are about connecting the international climate process to people’s real lives and to real economies. They will showcase proven real-world solutions so they can be replicated and scaled up, and will help lay a foundation for real progress on finance, adaptation, mitigation and a Just Transition, in Belém and beyond,” said UN Climate Change Deputy Executive Secretary Noura Hamladji.
The Addis Ababa edition will therefore not only feature policy discussions but also concrete demonstrations of success stories, encouraging peer-to-peer learning and South–South collaboration.
The Implementation Forum: A Crucial Platform
At the core of CW2 is the Implementation Forum, a new space designed to bring together diverse actors to share and refine practical approaches across key areas such as finance, technology, and policy.
With a strong emphasis on investment and collaboration, the Forum will operate through Implementation Labs, dialogues, and roundtables that directly address the challenges countries and regions face in turning commitments into action.
Key thematic sessions will include:
- Adaptation Finance – mobilizing resources to protect communities from worsening climate impacts.
- Public–Private Finance Dialogue – fostering collaboration between governments and investors to unlock capital at scale.
- Accelerating Agriculture Climate Action – aligning farming practices with sustainability while safeguarding food security.
- Scaling Forest Climate Action – supporting conservation and reforestation initiatives crucial for carbon sequestration.
- Strengthening Public–Private Sector Collaboration – building trust and partnership for faster implementation.
- Multilevel and Community-Driven Action – ensuring that local actors are central to climate solutions.
These sessions are structured to reflect and advance the incoming COP30 Presidency’s six Action Agenda focus areas, ensuring that the Addis Ababa discussions feed directly into the broader global process.
A Steppingstone for the Africa Climate Summit and COP30
While Climate Week has a global outlook, its themes and outcomes are deeply relevant to Africa’s Agenda 2063, which prioritizes inclusive growth, sustainability, and resilience.
The Addis Ababa event has been deliberately scheduled just ahead of the second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2), to be hosted in the same city from 8–10 September 2025.
This sequencing is intentional.
The outcomes of CW2, particularly from the Implementation Forum, will flow into the Summit, where African leadership will sharpen its collective position on key issues such as finance, adaptation, and resilience.
The synergy between the two gatherings ensures that Africa’s priorities are reflected in the global conversation and that African voices carry weight on the road to COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
Laying Foundations for Real Progress
CW2 builds on the renewed Climate Week model, which is designed not only to highlight success stories but also to increase efficiency by clustering mandated events in the formal UNFCCC process.
This approach allows progress on critical issues to be made in advance of COP30, reducing duplication and ensuring more focused negotiations later in the year.
For Africa, the Addis Ababa Climate Week is more than a preparatory event—it is a platform for leadership.
The continent faces acute climate vulnerabilities, from prolonged droughts to devastating floods, yet it is also home to some of the most innovative adaptation and mitigation initiatives.
By bringing together negotiators, policymakers, communities, and financiers, CW2 seeks to accelerate the scaling of these solutions while aligning them with broader global priorities.
The week promises to highlight the transformative power of climate action when it is grounded in local realities but connected to global ambition.
By bridging the gap between pledges and practice, CW2 offers a roadmap for how countries can deliver not just on climate goals, but also on economic growth, public health, and social well-being.
Learn more about the second Climate Week (CW2) and consult the full Agenda.
