FACT SHEET, DEC 2023 – During the 28th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), held from November 28 – December 12, 2023 the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced multiple initiatives to advance progress on combating the climate crisis.

Contents

  1. PREPARE Call to Action to the Private Sector
  2. PREPARE Adaptation Finance Window
  3. Green Guarantee Company
  4. Feed the Future Advancing Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems
  5. Global Urban Climate Action
  6. Launch of Methane Mitigation Projects in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Nigeria
  7. Conserving Critical Forests and Ecosystems
  8. Ocean Finance Partnership with ORRAA
  9. Women in Sustainable Economy (WISE) Initiative: Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF)
  10. Power Africa Contribution to the Acumen Hardest to Reach Investment Fund
  11. Power Africa Empowering Southern Africa
  12. Scaling Clean Energy Demand
  13. CACCI Partnership for Climate Action
  14. Advancing Investments in Climate Information Services Under PREPARE
  15. Carbon Finance for Locally-Led Sustainable Development
  16. Driving Green Finance through the Sustainable Banking Alliance
  17. Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Action
  18. Principles for Locally-Led Adaptation
  19. Recharge Pakistan Project
  20. Improving Climate Resilience to Reduce Disruptions to Learning
  21. Innovative Climate Action in Food Systems through Partnerships with the Private Sector, Research, and Nongovernmental Organizations
  22. Intersectional and Inclusive Programs for Climate Action
  23. Strengthening Capacity for Climate-Smart Health Systems
  24. Strengthening Early Warning Systems and Climate Information Integration into Health Information Systems
  25. Transforming the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
  26. Launch of BUILD Youth Leadership Program
  27. Building Women’s Leadership Capacity and Engaging Men as Allies to Participate in Reproductive Health and Climate-Resilient Policy Development
  28. Liquidity and Sustainability Facility for Green Investments in Africa

PREPARE Call to Action to the Private Sector

The PREPARE Call to Action to the Private Sector launched by Secretary Kerry and USAID Administrator Power at COP27 invites businesses to make new, significant commitments to building climate resilience in partner countries. This initiative has tripled from its ten founding companies to a total of 31 companies and partners. The 21 new commitments come from Aon, Arup, Bezos Earth Fund, Boston Consulting Group, Blue Marble, ClimateWorks, Danone, the Global Adaptation and Resilience Investment Working Group, Howden Group, IBM, Jupiter Intelligence, the Lightsmith Group, Milliman, Miyamoto International, the MSCI Sustainability Institute, Synoptic Data, Tomorrow.io, Visa, Xylem, as well as McCormick and Pula that joined during Vice President Harris’ visit to Africa in 2023. These new responses are expected to marshal an estimated $2.3 billion for climate adaptation globally. The founding companies of the PREPARE Call to Action from COP27 are Google, Gro Intelligence, Marsh McLennan, Mastercard, Meta, Microsoft, Pegasus Capital Advisors, PepsiCo., SAP, and WTW. In one year since COP27, voluntary corporate actions in support of PREPARE are expected to have mobilized more than $610 million and supported more than 9.3 million people in Africa, Middle East, and Latin America to better manage the impacts of climate change.

PREPARE Adaptation Finance Window

USAID, in collaboration with the State Department, announced the first-round winners of the PREPARE Adaptation Finance Window and launched a second round of financing for asset managers and funds. This Window, implemented through USAID’s Climate Finance Development Accelerator, aims to de-risk private-sector-led approaches to climate adaptation in developing countries. USAID is proud to support 7 local and international companies operating in Africa and Asia to scale parametric climate insurance coverage for farmers, enhance market-based water collection, storage, and use efficiency, and support businesses themselves to be resilient to climate hazards, such as through the Resilience Wrapper Facility under development by WTW, an insurance company partnering with USAID under the EDGE Fund. USAID’s investment of $2.7 million will mobilize more than $18 million in private finance, credit, and insurance coverage. In addition, USAID is partnering with the Governments of Denmark and Sweden to open a new funding round for asset managers and funds with adaptation-focused portfolios in developing economies. This round will offer catalytic grant finance, up to $100 million in guarantees, and access to debt and equity.

Green Guarantee Company

The U.S. is a key investor in the launch of the Green Guarantee Company (GGC), the first privately run guarantee company devoted to green bonds and loans in developing countries, focusing on Africa, Asia and Latin America. Subject to final documentation, the U.S.—through USAID’s EDGE Fund, State Department and Prosper Africa—alongside the U.K.’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the Green Climate Fund, Norfund, and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, intend to contribute to GGC's initial balance sheet of $100 million. GGC will use this catalytic seed funding to mobilize $1 billion in new, mainstream private capital for climate change adaptation and mitigation projects by 2024.

Feed the Future Advancing Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems

At the launch of the Agriculture Innovation Mission (AIM) for Climate in 2021, USAID committed $215 million to support the CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), the global research partnership for a food-secure future. USAID has exceeded this commitment two years ahead of schedule. Because of the significant need to safeguard and adapt food systems, USAID also announced $100 million in continued investments, working with Congress, for the CGIAR, over the next two years. This funding compliments commitments made at COP28 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UAE for investments in the CGIAR. These investments are enabling millions of smallholder farmers to access climate-smart innovations and continue producing food in the face of climate change. Investments also contribute to our elevated focus on adapting indigenous crops and promoting soil health through the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils as part of Feed the Future (FTF). The broader FTF planned investment aligned with AIM for Climate includes two new FTF Innovation Labs at Kansas State and the University of Nebraska. AIM for Climate-related funds are a subset of Feed the Future resources.

Alongside around 130 countries, the U.S. endorsed the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action. The US, through USAID leadership and in coordination with USDA, State, and the interagency, joined the Emirates Declaration Technical Cooperation Collaborative that will help improve coordination and impact in developing countries' food system and climate work.

Global Urban Climate Action

USAID is committing $53.6 million at COP28 in building resilience and advancing mitigation solutions in cities throughout Asia, Colombia, Mexico, Southern Africa, and in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean. USAID is investing in cities throughout Asia, Colombia, Mexico, Southern Africa and in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean. Investments will support technical assistance programs and partnerships to strengthen subnational climate preparedness, decarbonize urban transportation, increase energy efficiency in buildings, ease bottlenecks in subnational climate finance, and accelerate innovative adaptation solutions. In addition to Mission funding, USAID/Washington will invest $1.25 million in the C40 Cities Finance Facility to finance climate adaptation projects that will strengthen municipal government capacity and channel climate resources to the local level. Over $1 billion of public and private climate finance will be leveraged for urban climate action.

Launch of Methane Mitigation Projects in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Nigeria

USAID recently invested in several groundbreaking initiatives aimed at addressing methane emissions. This includes launching a previously announced agriculture resilience program that curbs methane emissions stemming from Vietnam’s rice sector, a solid waste management activity to scale cost-effective methane abatement solutions within the Indonesian solid waste sector, and new research into the abatement potential of fecal waste management approaches in on-site sanitation systems. In another significant move, the Government of Nigeria announced the issuance of 42 licenses to advance projects it estimates will capture over half of all gas flaring volumes in the country. This is considered a key milestone of the Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialization Program (NGFCP), a program USAID supported through Power Africa.

Conserving Critical Forests and Ecosystems

USAID announced new initiatives to conserve, restore, and improve management of nature. The four-year Regenerative Agriculture for Conservation of the Amazon (ARCA) activity will help improve sustainable landscape management in the Brazilian Amazon, working with smallholders, Indigenous and Quilombola peoples. The new Colombia Productive Ecosystems activity will advance ecosystem services to conserve Colombia’s tropical dry forests. The new Partnerships for Asia’s Green Investment (PAGI) activity will mobilize approximately $160 million to achieve greater emissions reduction, climate resilience, biodiversity protection, inclusiveness, and benefit sharing across Southeast Asia.

Ocean Finance Partnership with ORRAA

The United States announced it is partnering with the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) on the Coastal Resilience, Carbon, and Conservation Finance (C3F) initiative, an activity under USAID’s Climate Finance for Development Accelerator. C3F encourages the flow of private sector capital into coastal resilience and blue carbon projects that generate biodiversity conservation, climate mitigation, and adaptation outcomes while ensuring that local communities benefit. This work advances the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) and will serve as a foundation for future USAID partnerships with local stakeholders that build capacity to develop bankable, climate-positive projects and address information asymmetries between local communities and investors—leading to investments that safeguard local resources and livelihoods.

Women in Sustainable Economy (WISE) Initiative: Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF)

Launched by Vice President Harris in November 2023, the U.S. government-led Women in the Sustainable Economy (WISE) Initiative announced new public and private partner commitments during COP28 that will increase women’s access to employment, training, leadership roles, and financial resources in the industries critical to our future and the future of our planet, including clean energy, fisheries, recycling, forest management, and environmental conservation. Through WISE, governments, the private sector, foundations, civil society, and multilateral organizations are joining forces and committing to getting funding into the hands of actors who have the most appropriate, and best poised for impact, solutions. To do so, WISE partners commit to meeting the WISE objectives through their own programs and/or by supporting the four flagship US Government programs.

USAID is pleased to announce an additional $5 million, subject to the availability of funds, toward the Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF), which is a flagship program under WISE. CGEF is also delighted to announce Visa Foundation, British consumer goods company Reckitt, and the UPS Foundation as the Fund’s newest founding members and 2X Global as the implementing partner. USAID, with the support of Amazon, launched CGEF last year at COP27 as a public-private partnership to increase access to climate finance for gender-responsive, women-led, and women-benefiting organizations that are advancing climate adaptation and mitigation solutions.

Power Africa Contribution to the Acumen Hardest to Reach Investment Fund

This event highlighted Power Africa’s catalytic, $2 million contribution to Acumen’s Hardest-to-Reach Fund, which will attract additional private-sector investment and leverage the Fund’s model of flexible, patient capital and targeted technical assistance to incentivize off-grid solar companies to expand into new, more difficult markets. This project focuses on expanding access to renewable energy for vulnerable, hardest-to-reach populations, those who live in remote areas and are at risk of being left behind in the clean energy transition. The activity looks to connect up to 72 million people in sub-Saharan Africa with year-round access to clean, affordable, reliable and modern off-grid solar energy. In doing so, it will support the reduction or avoidance of up to 5.1 million tCO2e by the end of its project life. Additionally, it will support up to 5 million people with improved climate resilience through diversified income sources enabled by first-time access to a solar-powered product and up to 1.6 million people with improved climate resilience through enhanced energy security enabled by first-time access to a portable and durable solar solution.

Power Africa Empowering Southern Africa

Power Africa’s Empower Southern Africa (ESA) program seeks to increase the availability of and access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and clean energy in Southern Africa with an investment into Power Africa’s Regional Development Objective Agreement with the African Development Bank and buy-ins from USAID Missions in Southern Africa. The award's combined on- and beyond-the-grid approach will provide targeted advisory services, catalytic grants, and investment mobilization to a range of energy sector institutions. ESA will connect African homes, businesses, and institutions to electricity; reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector by supporting cleaner electricity generation delivered by the grid and accelerating distributed renewable energy; and, working in partnership with African governments, improve the enabling environment for energy sector investment and innovation. The activity anticipates supporting up to 3 million new electricity connections over the next five years, and by the end of the project, 14 million tCO2e will be avoided or mitigated as a result of this assistance.

Scaling Clean Energy Demand

USAID is scaling up energy programming worldwide to decarbonize the sector, and one element of doing so is improving the range of services provided by clean energy sources. Funds are tailored in country- and regional-specific contexts in the northern Andes to reduce the highest amount of greenhouse gas emissions and harmful pollutants and will include solutions ranging from accessible and green transportation, energy efficiency innovations, and scaling up finance for energy. Specific activities include transforming the sector in Ecuador, transitioning to renewables in Providencia Island, Colombia, and increasing finance through private sector investment in Colombia. Clean energy solutions are driving solutions to a diverse set of development challenges.

CACCI Partnership for Climate Action

Under the new Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiatives Partnership for Climate Action, USAID will identify promising mitigation and adaptation investment opportunities with private sector partners to help countries meet their climate commitments and strengthen their resilience in the face of climate change. At COP28, USAID announced MOUs with two private sector partners: BG Titan and Genesis Energy Group. These companies are pivoting their business towards climate-positive investments and will leverage up to $10 billion each in private sector investment over the next five years to support renewable energy projects, green housing and infrastructure, and climate-resilient agriculture. USAID is also working with Mars Inc. to help smallholder farmers become more resilient to the impacts of climate change. The focus of these partnerships is to support countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia to meet their commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Advancing Investments in Climate Information Services Under PREPARE

The U.S. Government is making significant investments in early warning and climate information services to reduce disaster losses and advance the UN Secretary General’s Call for Early Warning for All by 2027. USAID will work with National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands to deploy storm surge sensors to improve public storm surge forecasts and warnings. USAID and NOAA are also working with the World Meteorological Organization, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in 20 African nations, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to establish and advance early warning systems on floods, droughts, cyclones and heatwaves. In Senegal, Somalia and Mozambique, USAID is increasing investment in climate information services to improve climate resilience in the agricultural and health sectors.

Carbon Finance for Locally-Led Sustainable Development

USAID will support the development of high-quality carbon markets and alternative financing for nature-based solutions that accelerate locally-led sustainable development. One new initiative, the Pakistan Voluntary Carbon Market Activity, will support public and private sector access to carbon credits and improve transparency of carbon project results. This work aims to increase the integrity of the voluntary trade of carbon credits in Pakistan, driving more international climate finance dollars to the country. USAID will also scale up support to other recently announced USAID carbon finance initiatives, helping build the pipeline of high-integrity projects that provide funding to support communities to take mitigation action while also protecting and enhancing livelihoods and building resilience to climate change. Announced at the Africa Climate Summit, USAID’s partnership with the Acorn Cooperative Carbon Finance Fund under USAID’s EDGE Fund, seeks to demonstrate the impact of unlocking high-equity voluntary carbon market for smallholder farmers at scale. As much as 80 percent of the proceeds from carbon credit sales will eventually go to smallholder farmers.

Driving Green Finance through the Sustainable Banking Alliance

The Sustainable Banking Alliance partners with financial institutions to build their capacity for measuring and reporting on, and reducing their exposure to, climate-related risks, and ultimately to support the decrease of financed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Sustainable Banking Alliance, led by DAI, is working across Colombia, Rwanda and Egypt to convene local financial institutions and provide them with tools and capacity to work across green finance. In Colombia, a new digital tool will calculate the carbon footprint of bank portfolios; in Barbados, USAID will facilitate climate resilience through the launch of the Blue Green Bank, supported by USAID’s EDGE Fund. This activity supports the net zero carbon transition by supporting financial institutions to decarbonize and increase financing to climate mitigation and adaptation enterprises in four countries.

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Action

USAID and partner countries are advancing climate action throughout the MENA region. Activities include research for climate and peace through the ME Regional Cooperation program; working with MIT and leveraging USAID’s EDGE Fund to engage the private sector to commercialize innovative water- and energy-saving agricultural technologies; and scaling youth-led climate initiatives. Country-specific actions include:

In Egypt, building off of efforts announced at COP27, Egypt’s Pioneers activity supports cohorts of Egyptian students focused on climate change and adaptation. The Egyptian Red Sea Initiative aims to leverage $50 million in climate and conservation financing. Additionally, the Science and Technology Joint Fund promotes climate adaptation and mitigation research, and Partnerships for Educational Progress supports higher education systems changes and provides training and capacity building for Egyptians to address Egypt’s climate priorities.

Jordan’s Non-Revenue Water (NRW) IV Program is supporting the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI) to strengthen water infrastructure resilience to accommodate additional water supplies and reduce water losses to less than 25% nationwide by 2040, supporting the Govt of Jordan to achieve targets set in its National Water Strategy. The program is contributing to the sustainable development of Jordan's water sector to ensure improved water access and reliability for its citizens. Jordan’s vulnerable families obtain solar water heaters, whereas water programming dramatically reduces water loss and CO2 emissions in the water sector.

USAID/Morocco aims to support locally-led climate action using a systems approach to strengthen resilience to climate change and create space for women, youth, and other stakeholders to lead locally defined adaptation solutions in Moroccan communities ($2 million).

Yemen’s community programs build resilience and resolve local conflicts in Republic of Yemen-controlled areas through improved collaboration on water conservation, climate-conscious livelihoods support, and provision of health services.

Principles for Locally-Led Adaptation

USAID, in partnership with Irish Aid, is implementing a campaign to encourage more donor countries to endorse the Principles for Locally Led Adaptation, which USAID endorsed at COP26 in Glasgow. At COP28, we celebrated four new endorsements that resulted from this campaign and further amplified the clear political will for localizing climate support. Less than 10 percent of climate finance reaches local levels and this advocacy brings increased attention to, and shifting of, the systems and organizations that fund climate adaptation action. As part of our thought leadership under our Localization Vision, and as a clear example of advancing progress beyond programs, USAID commends the more than 20 government partners who have now joined this effort.

Recharge Pakistan Project

Recharge Pakistan is an up to $72.8 million, five-year project that aims to leverage natural systems and invest in green infrastructure to enhance Pakistan’s resilience to climate change. With a planned USAID contribution of up to $5 million, subject to the availability of funds, USAID/Pakistan has unlocked $72.8 million in grant financing—$66 million from Green Climate Fund, $5 million from The Coca-Cola Foundation, and $1.8 million from the World Wildlife Fund. The project will reduce flood and drought risk in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh provinces; reduce emissions by improving landscape management; and strengthen water and forest governance. The project also aims to improve employment opportunities and to support climate-resilient businesses in the agriculture, forestry, and water sectors. Project interventions will improve the climate resilience of 687,000 people and will indirectly benefit more than seven million people, including 48 percent women in both cases, through flood reduction and improved resilience and livelihood opportunities. Recharge Pakistan will restore 14,215 hectares of degraded forests and support the host government National Water Policy, National Adaptation Plan, and Provincial Adaptation Plans.

Improving Climate Resilience to Reduce Disruptions to Learning

Climate change can translate into significant disruptions for learners, educators, and communities. The impact of climate change may be more or less disruptive to education depending on the local education system’s ability to cope and to adapt—its climate resilience. USAID will collaborate with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to build climate resilience through the Climate Action Partnership for Education (CAPE). CAPE seeks to demonstrate how education policy and programming can advance climate action and reduce the impact of climate-related barriers on girls' education. In addition, USAID/India is also supporting the Higher Education Partnership for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (HEP-DRI), which will build a network of higher education institutions from the U.S. and India to address gaps in infrastructure resilience education, training, and knowledge management. The goal is to train a future cadre of engineers and other professionals working on disaster resilience.

Innovative Climate Action in Food Systems through Partnerships with the Private Sector, Research, and Nongovernmental Organizations

In 2023, USAID helped mobilize over $200 million in AIM for Climate Innovation Sprints, where private sector actors, research institutions, and nonprofits commit additional resources to develop and scale solutions to advance climate-smart food systems both in adaptation and mitigation. USAID specifically championed Innovation Sprints that addressed the gender gap in agri-food systems or that helped reduce food loss and waste. As a result, the first two gender-focused AIM for Climate Innovation Sprints have been launched. These include “Accelerating African Women’s Leadership in Climate Action,” led by the African Women in Agricultural Research for Development (AWARD) program, the United Nations Foundation, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification, and partners, with support from USAID, which has committed to mobilizing tens of millions to increase the number and experience of African women leading equitable climate solutions through agricultural research for development. The CGIAR, with support from USAID, and 20 additional partners also launched the Innovation Sprint “Addressing Gender Inequality through Climate Action in Agrifood Systems,” which has mobilized over $30 million to fund the design of innovative, gender-responsive climate solutions, the establishment of enabling environments for more equitable and widespread uptake of climate innovations, and the measurement of progress towards gender equality and climate resilience goals.

Intersectional and Inclusive Programs for Climate Action

USAID’s climate programs support marginalized and underrepresented groups through equity and inclusion, just transitions for Indigenous and other communities, locally defined/led solutions, and private sector partnerships for skill building and job creation for women and youth. In Colombia, USAID promotes just energy transition by preparing Indigenous youth for the renewable energy economy. In Guatemala, the Prosperous and Resilient Landscapes (PRL) project engages youth and women in decision-making. In MENA, USAID works with youth and women on locally defined, and locally led climate action. In India, the Regenerative Agroforestry and Livelihoods Fund supports bamboo production with women-owned enterprises. USAID’s YouthMappers: Mapping for Climate Resilience program builds digital mapping and leadership skills with students in 382 universities across 78 countries. YouthMappers have contributed more than 20 million edits to OpenStreetMap, the world’s largest open mapping platform and a critical data source for many of the digital applications the public uses on their smartphones. The YouthMappers program was highlighted in a White House Fact Sheet related to Vice President Harris’ trip to Africa in Spring 2023. The Everywhere She Maps initiative, part of YouthMappers, achieved more than 40 percent participation from female students, a traditionally underrepresented group in the technology sector. USAID will also launch the Youth, Women and Green Jobs Diagnostics activity for inclusive transitions to the green economy.

Strengthening Capacity for Climate-Smart Health Systems

Building climate-smart healthcare systems is increasingly important as climate shocks and stressors threaten health outcomes, the reliability and stability of health systems, and stall progress towards expanded health coverage. USAID, in partnership with World Bank and others, is launching a learning collaborative to support up to 10 countries to access knowledge on practical implementation of climate mitigation and adaptation through peer-to-peer learning. USAID, in collaboration with WHO, is developing a resilience indicator tool kit to enhance capacity to monitor and integrate health system resilience indicators into routine health information systems and use data to inform national and subnational policy, planning and service improvement. Up to 10 partner countries will have improved understanding to integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation to improve health system performance in a way that supports the achievement of UHC. A global monitoring and evaluation tool will be developed to inform policy and planning at a national and sub-national level.

Strengthening Early Warning Systems and Climate Information Integration into Health Information Systems

USAID supported climate-based early warning systems for malaria in Ethiopia. The tool integrates climate, weather, and environment data into malaria surveillance tools, allowing policymakers and practitioners to adapt programmatic approaches and timing. Further capacity training and scaling up the system in Ethiopia is proposed through the Climate Adaptation Support Activity (CASA). Through CASA, USAID is planning to support Rwanda in: integrating climate information with malaria indicators for monitoring and providing technical assistance to assess the contribution of eco-climatic conditions on malaria. In Nigeria, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative’s (PMI) provides climatic indicators for Nigeria’s National Malaria Data Repository (NMDR) that informs their quarterly malaria bulletin and is captured in NMDR for future trend analysis.

Transforming the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

USAID has committed to partner with countries to support activities to reduce, avoid, or sequester six billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The largest carbon footprint of the health sector is its supply chain. USAID is designing a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Accounting Tool to calculate mitigation scenarios, such as shifting to less emissive transportation modes. USAID is assessing the broader value chain for estimating product storage emissions while in USAID custody (Category 4: Upstream Transportation and Distribution), assessing the feasibility of preliminary product-level manufacturing emission reductions (Category 1), and surveying supplying manufacturers for their capacity to provide GHG-related data. The U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative’s (PMI) supply chain activities reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by over 50 percent from FY 2019 to FY 2021, primarily through transitioning from primary reliance on air freight to using sea and land freight. Through improved packaging and loading, PMI increased the number of units that can be loaded into a 40-foot container, further lowering carbon emissions. USAID is also coordinating with other health commodity donors such as UNFPA to enhance sustainable sourcing practices, mitigate GHG emissions and reduce waste in the largest carbon footprint of the health sector—its supply chain.

Launch of BUILD Youth Leadership Program

Building Capacity for Integrated Family Planning (FP) and Reproductive Health (RH) and Population, Environment and Development Action (BUILD) is a 5-year award designed to promote integrated FP/RH and environment policies and programming through advocacy, capacity building, and research. This includes activities such as training FP/RH champions and leaders such as parliamentarians, conducting research on population dynamics and environmental change, and strengthening regional Population, Health, Environment, and Development (PHED) communities of practice. There is a growing body of evidence indicating that such integration can improve human health, ecosystem, and climate resilience outcomes in rural settings where there is a high dependence on local natural resources for livelihoods and limited access to health services. In November 2023, BUILD launched its Youth Leadership program, providing an opportunity for dozens of young leaders ages 15–29—predominantly women—from across Africa and Southeast Asia to learn about integrated PHED approaches that combine voluntary FP/RH with environmental conservation and strengthened climate adaptation capacity. PHED activities often promote alternative and/or more diversified livelihood strategies to help households manage and reduce the impact of environmental shocks. The first cohort will be trained in Kenya starting in November 2023. This program will train a new generation of locally-led PHED leadership who can help catalyze integrated development activities that improve access to climate-resilient, diversified, sustainable livelihood opportunities and voluntary FP/RH services. BUILD is a consortium led by the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) in partnership with Leadership for Environment and Development Southern and Eastern Africa (LEAD SEA); PATH Foundation Philippines Inc. (PFPI); FHI 360; and Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).

Building Women’s Leadership Capacity and Engaging Men as Allies to Participate in Reproductive Health and Climate-Resilient Policy Development

Promoting Results and Outcomes through Policy and Economic Levers (PROPEL) Adapt is a 5-year award designed to use policy, education, governance and financing approaches in the contexts of shocks, stressors, and fragility. Beginning in November 2023, PROPEL Adapt developed a toolkit and conducted training workshops to strengthen the capacity of women leaders to shape voluntary family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) and climate-resilient health policies in fragile settings. Nepal and India are proposed pilot countries because recurrent climate-related shocks and stressors affect access to FP/RH services. Development of a global good, the toolkit, to build the capacity of women leaders and men as allies to participate in FP/RH and climate-resilient policy development.

Liquidity and Sustainability Facility for Green Investments in Africa

USAID announced it is providing $1.5 million under USAID’s EDGE Fund to support the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility (LSF) to create a repurchase agreement “repo” market to increase liquidity of African Sovereign Eurobonds. LSF aims to improve African sovereign debt sustainability and, through its participation with African governments and private investors, enhance liquidity in the market on par with international standards by enabling African countries to access international markets at lower rates. An improvement in the terms of new issuances of Sustainable Development Goals or climate-linked bonds for African nations could dramatically increase the volume of green and blue bond financing, and at affordable and sustainable rates.

For More Information

USAID at COP28

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DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: NOV 30 – DEC 12, 2023 – The 28th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) will bring together countries from around the world to increase ambition, implement existing goals, and strengthen commitments.

Climate Change

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USAID plays a vital role in mitigating climate change and addressing its impacts by working with partner countries to implement ambitious emissions reduction measures, protect critical ecosystems, transition to renewable energy, build resilience against the impacts of climate change, and promote the flow of capital toward climate-positive investments.

USAID Climate Strategy 2022–2030

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USAID’s 2022–2030 Climate Strategy guides our whole-of-Agency approach to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, help partner countries build resilience to climate change, and improve our operations.