Africa Launches First NDC Implementation Index to Track Climate Action Commitments
African countries are taking a pioneering step to track progress on their climate commitments with the launch of the continent’s first Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Implementation Index.
The initiative, led by the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) in partnership with the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) and the West African Green Economic Development Institute (WAGEDI), aims to enhance accountability under the Paris Agreement.
Funded by the African Development Bank’s Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF), the project covers 12 Sub-Saharan African countries: Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Index evaluates climate action across five key pillars of the Paris Agreement: governance, finance and technology transfer, adaptation, mitigation, and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV).
An online platform has also been launched, allowing countries’ climate action progress to be publicly visible and comparable, marking a major step towards transparency and accountability in Africa’s climate governance.
“This project is important because, as countries prepare their next round of NDCs, they need to independently assess progress and identify gaps. Only then can they set sound, evidence-based targets for NDC 3.0,” said Rita Effah, ACCF Coordinator at the African Development Bank.
The initiative also focuses on capacity building, training government officials and climate officers in data collection, evaluation, and reporting. In addition, 72 climate champions from research institutions and civil society have been trained to support governments in aligning national data with NDC targets.
The programme supports the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action). While some countries continue to face challenges related to data infrastructure and long-term planning, the initiative sets a precedent for more robust, continent-wide tracking of climate commitments.
Looking ahead, partners aim to expand the platform beyond the initial 12 countries, enabling a pan-African approach to monitoring NDC implementation and enhancing collective climate accountability.
