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Ethiopia Hopes to Boost Climate Adaptation

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sits in the plenary hall before the opening of the High-Level Leaders Summit at the Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2) in Addis Ababa, on Sept. 8, 2025. Credit - Luis Tato—Getty Images

The Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2) is taking place in Ethiopia, a developing country determined to scale its commitment to green growth. To help position the country as a leader in this space, Seyoum Mekonen, State Minister of Planning and Development for Ethiopia and the Ministry of Environment, and Energy Security of the Italian Republic Claudio Barbaro signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on day 2 of the summit. The MOU will support a number of initiatives, including Ethiopia’s National Adaptation Plan.

“This agreement is about enhancing the adaptive capacity of Ethiopia’s economy, not aid,” said Mekonen during the signing.

It was a theme touched on throughout the second day of ACS2, which saw conversations focused on adaptation and resilience, with a spotlight on Africa’s climate risks and scalable response. Leaders from Africa and around the world have gathered in Addis Ababa this week to discuss the continent’s climate future and create a unified plan for climate resilience.

The day saw the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) and Pro(to)topia, a green consulting group, marking the launch of the Just Resilience Framework, which will provide a framework and funding for groundwork climate initiatives. Charles Mwangi, head of programs at PACJA described the aims of the policy tool during a panel on localizing climate resilience, which was moderated by TIME’s Chief Climate Officer Shyla Raghav.

“We thought it was important to come up with a justice resilience framework for the continent, because for us to be able to implement local-led climate adaptation, it is important to have a guiding framework…that resonates the actual needs of the communities and the grassroots and really reflects our context,” he said.

The governments of Norway, Denmark, and Ethiopia organized an event focused on Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative, also moderated by Raghav. The Green Legacy Initiative was launched in 2019 by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to tackle climate challenges, reverse land degradation, restore ecosystems, and build climate resilience. The country has since seen a sharp decline in deforestation along with major afforestation and reforestation efforts.

Coupling emission reductions with the country’s development goals has also been critical to meeting climate goals. “We are now successfully launching these strategies that could really help Ethiopia to achieve its development aspirations that have been set for 2030 and 2050 as well as address…greenhouse gas emission reduction and building resilience across the sectors,” said Mensur Dessie, climate institutional development advisor at the Ethiopian Ministry of Planning and Development.

Youth activists also gathered for a panel focused on amplifying youth voices in climate politics, moderated by Kenyan climate activist and TIME100 Impact Award honoree Elizabeth Wathuti.

Wathuti told TIME she hopes to see more financial commitments made to African youth implementing climate solutions. “We're not supposed to just talk about young people in terms of empowering them, supporting them, applauding them, and giving them kind words when they talk about their solutions and innovations,” she said. “We actually need to see real support getting into the work that is happening on the ground.”

That idea will be the focus on day three, which will spotlight climate finance and African-led solutions.

Coverage of the Second Africa Climate Summit is presented by the Pan Africa Climate Justice Alliance.

Write to Simmone Shah at simmone.shah@time.com.

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