Highlights: UrbanShift Africa Forum – C40 Cities

The UrbanShift Africa Forum, hosted from 17 to 19 February 2025 by C40 Cities and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), brought together 250 mayors, city officials, national policymakers, investors, and civil society leaders from across the continent to accelerate climate action, creating a better, safer, healthier future for all Africans amidst Africa’s rapid urbanisation.

The forum highlighted the climate achievements and challenges of African cities as mayors across the continent continue to stand out as global climate leaders. 

15 cities urge national governments to shift investments toward green, job-creating sectors

The Forum commenced with an open letter from 15 mayors and governors from some of Africa’s largest cities. The letter urged African national governments to prioritise investments in the green economy and climate resilience, create good green jobs, strengthen municipal finance, and remove barriers to public-private partnerships to fast-track climate action projects.

‘Sustainable Investment Roadmap’ launched by C40 Cities, UrbanShift and GCoM

On 18 February, C40 Cities, UrbanShift and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) launched the Sustainable Investment Roadmap, a tool outlining practical steps mayors and their teams can take to start acting and advocating for climate action. The roadmap will help mayors access affordable financing for important projects like clean energy and public transport as they continue to serve the needs of their residents while mitigating climate risks.

City and national delegates visit sustainable sites across Nairobi

UrbanShift delegates were taken to site visits in and around Nairobi, highlighting ways sustainable neighbourhood planning and innovative climate resilience can improve the lives of residents. The tours of these sites provided in-depth knowledge of local projects related to the topics of the forum, inspired city delegates on interesting sustainable solutions that can be replicated elsewhere, and generated engagement between delegates and local partners hosting the site visits.

Notably, delegates visited Nairobi’s Roam Park, the largest electric motorcycle plant in East Africa. This visit aimed to inspire sustainability experts from African cities by showing the impact of electric mobility in tackling the climate crisis, reducing pollution, improving traffic flow, and generating jobs.

Cities partner with UN-Habitat to promote climate-responsive urban development

C40 Cities and UN-Habitat announced a landmark partnership to create an integrated Urban Planning Accelerator. The accelerator will help cities cut emissions by 25% by 2050 while creating safer, fairer, and more inclusive urban environments.

The Urban Planning Accelerator will provide cities with the expertise and strategies to reshape urban development by prioritising regenerative cities, encouraging neighbourhoods to reduce car dependency in favour of vibrant communities and regulating construction in vulnerable areas to protect natural ecosystems against extreme weather events.

Mayor Aki-Sawyerr and Governor Johnson shared opinions on the power of cities and youth in Africa’s climate leadership

Mayor of Freetown and C40 Cities Co-Chair Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr and Governor of Nairobi and C40 Cities Vice Chair Sakaja Johnson co-authored an opinion piece on the power of youth and cities in climate leadership. 

They elaborated on the need to invest in the future of their residents by investing in decentralised renewable energy, sustainable housing, affordable public transportation, and waste and wastewater treatment that will create a sustainable, equitable, and prosperous urban future for all. 

CHAMP release guidebook to help national governments increase finance for subnational climate action

On 19 February, it was announced that Tunisia would join the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP), making it the 75th country to join CHAMP. 

In support of CHAMP, the C40 Cities and GCoM Bloomberg Philanthropies Joint Programme launched the CHAMP Finance Guidebook aimed at enhancing cooperation between national and subnational governments in the planning, financing, implementation, and monitoring of climate strategies.

Collaboration and celebrations matter: Breathe Cities

C40’s African Cities for Clean Air initiative (AC4CA) in partnership with Breathe Cities hosted a high level reception for mayors and a parallel session demonstrating how inclusive and equitable clean air action is integral to building resilient cities. Additionally, participants reflected on and celebrated the progress made in improving air quality across the African continent and discussed the next steps in this vital effort.

At the Forum, Breathe Cities hosted events to celebrate wins, including the third-year anniversary of 10 African cities joining the Clean Air Accelerator, and facilitated discussions around how inclusive and equitable clean air action is integral to building resilient cities.

Celebrating African cities’ achievements and setting future progress

The UrbanShift Africa Forum in Nairobi is an important stepping stone on the road to this year’s U20 meeting in South Africa. That meeting will pave the way for vital discussions at COP30 in Brazil, where there is an immense opportunity for global leaders to realign climate efforts, commit to significant emission reductions, and address the urban finance gap.