Rotterdam, the Netherlands, July 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Forum spotlights over $17 billion of adaptation investment shaped under the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP) and the launch of a Boston Consulting Group evaluation of AAAP results.
The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) convened a Funders Forum, assembling leading development partners—including the Gates Foundation, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD)—to review early results from the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP) deep dive into the food, water, infrastructure and community business lines of GCA’s AAAP Upstream Financing Facility, and contribute to the development of an enhanced “AAAP 2.0” for the next five years.
Since AAAP’s inception, upstream interventions in technical assistance, analytics and pilot demonstrations have shaped more than $17 billion in downstream investments for climate-resilient infrastructure, water systems, food security and nature-based solutions, placing GCA on track by year-end to reach its original goal of climate-proofing $25 billion of development investments, over five years, to accelerate and scale climate action across the continent.
A central focus of the Forum was the recently commissioned evaluation of AAAP being conducted by the Boston Consulting Group. “At the Global Center on Adaptation we are obsessed with achieving impact against the massive urgency to safeguard Africa’s development investment from climate shocks and disruptions,” said Matthew McKinnon, Vice President, External Affairs and Policy at GCA, who chaired the Funders Forum. “As AAAP is the largest single adaptation program in the world, and the largest-scale climate adaptation finance mainstreaming initiative, this evaluation, and the feedback of all key stakeholder groups–from communities across Africa to the program’s financial supporters–will provide truly critical insights to strengthening our impact and effectiveness going forwards.”
Delegates heard how GCA’s pioneering collaborations—with Oxford University on nature-based solutions, with CGIAR on climate-smart agriculture and on new pilots in health-and-education system resilience—are being leveraged to climate-proof development investments by multilateral development banks through the AAAP Upstream Financing Facility. Lessons from this work also feeds into GCA’s “Adaptation Insights” series, the first issue of which demonstrates that resilience measures in seaport operations can reduce climate-related disruption risks by up to 70 percent.
Equally significant was the Forum’s focus on social inclusion and locally led action, another focus of the Funders’ Forum. GCA reported that over 70 percent of AAAP-supported projects already employ gender-responsive approaches, as the organization works towards an even more comprehensive integration of gender and social-inclusion analysis under AAAP 2.0. Building on its flagship “People’s Adaptation Plans,” GCA also announced plans to scale community-driven resilience planning in 11 African and 10 Bangladeshi cities, creating formal channels that elevate local priorities through national policy forums and to the United Nations General Assembly.
Notes to Editors
About the Global Center on Adaptation
The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is an international organization that promotes adaptation to the impacts of climate change. It works to climate-proof development by instigating policy reforms and influencing investments made by international financial institutions and the private sector. The goal is to bring climate adaptation to the forefront of the global fight against climate change and ensure that it remains prominent. Founded in 2018, GCA embodies innovation in its approach to climate adaptation as well as in its physical presence. It operates from the largest floating office in the world, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and is currently building a new headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. This will make GCA the first international organization to maintain dual headquarters in both the Global North and South—underscoring the equal partnership between both regions and recognizing that climate adaptation solutions must be co-designed and co-owned. GCA has a worldwide network of regional offices in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Dhaka, Bangladesh; and Beijing, China.
About the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP)
The Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP) is a joint initiative by the African Development Bank and the Global Center on Adaptation, aimed at embedding climate adaptation solutions into $25 billion of critical development investments in agriculture, infrastructure, water and other public services over five years to scale up climate adaptation in Africa. Since its launch, the GCA’s AAAP Upstream Financing Facility has shaped over $17 billion in investments, helping to build climate resilience for millions across the continent.
CONTACT: Alexandra Gee Global Center on Adaptation +447887804594 alex.gee@gca.org
