The Africa-Europe Foundation (AEF) and the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) proudly announce a groundbreaking collaboration aimed at translating commitments into tangible action with a specific focus on accelerating delivery on the commitments of the AU-EU Partnership and unlocking cooperation at the nexus of climate and economic development.

The announcement took place at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, in Dubai, where AUDA-NEPAD and AEF have been leading a series of cross-continental initiatives on climate adaptation and health, sustainable finance and carbon markets, energy, agri-food and blue economy.  

The AEF – AUDA-NEPAD cooperation agreement centres on:

• Strategic foresight to introduce impactful research on cross-continental and international policymaking, including in relation to AU Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and to provide a unique understanding of sectoral trends and innovative approaches.
• Commitment tracking to monitor and accelerate the implementation of the financial and political commitments of the AU-EU Partnership and broaden engagement in the Partnership to experts and leaders from diverse organisational settings (civil society, private sector, academia, youth sector).
• Policy coherence through knowledge sharing and promoting programming synergies cutting across each organisation’s areas of expertise, challenging siloed work within development cooperation, and contributing to reinforcing the Africa-Europe Partnership at the multilateral level.

Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, speaking at the partnership launch, stated: “AUDA-NEPAD is delighted to be working with the Africa-Europe Foundation.  This partnership transforms dialogue into action, contributing to a critical paradigm shift in development cooperation”

“Working in partnership, challenging silos and focusing on impact is in the DNA of the Africa-Europe Foundation and will underpin our long-term collaboration with AUDA‑NEPAD,” stated AEF Executive Director Paul Walton at COP28. “Our shared capacity for evidence-based programming and foresight-based policy analysis will unlock untapped areas of cooperation that are critical for the societies of the Africa‑Europe Partnership.”

AUDA-NEPAD and the Africa-Europe Foundation will be working on a series of joint initiatives in 2024, including foresight analysis to support the next decade of the AU Agenda 2063 and next year’s UN Summit for the Future.

Speaking on this critical collaboration, the Director of Agriculture, Food Security and Environmental Sustainability at AUDA-NEPAD, Mrs Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong indicated that the Continent faces challenges, including underdeveloped carbon markets, the absence of a national registry, and inadequate government involvement in voluntary carbon markets, and highlighted that it for that reason that the two entities will work closely towards a robust, transparent, and sustainable carbon market mechanism.

It was during this session that AUDA-NEPAD also unveiled the 'Carbon Markets in Africa Report', and AEF its co-authored report with CAP-A on ‘Realising the full potential of carbon pricing and markets’. The AUDA-NEPAD report charts a course for robust carbon markets, from establishing a set of criteria for identifying countries at various stages of implementation to empowering rural economies, while the AEF report outlines key opportunities for Africa-Europe collaboration to build high integrity markets. Joining forces and ensuring programming synergies on such initiatives will characterise the AUDA-NEPAD and AEF Partnership.