William Ruto
President William Ruto departed Kenya early on Sunday morning, September 7, 2025, for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he and other African leaders are scheduled to attend the two-day Africa Climate Summit (ACS-2).
The ACS-2, taking place from 8th to 10th September, 2025, aims at advancing Africa’s leadership in climate action and green growth.
According to a press release issued by Mr. Ruto’s office, ACS-2, building on the 2023 Nairobi Declaration which set Africa’s bold climate agenda, President Ruto will launch the report “From Nairobi to Addis Ababa: Africa’s Journey of Climate Action and Partnership.”
The press release disclosed that the report reviews progress since the first Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, assesses current realities, and maps future pathways.
About the ACS-2
According to the African Union Commission, the second edition of the Africa Climate Summit aims to serve as a platform to inform, frame, and influence commitments, pledges, and outcomes. The Summit will bring Africa’s shared vision of climate action on advancing Africa led solutions and how to finance them, collaboratively championed by the AUC and Ethiopia as the host. The Summit emphasizes the need for Africa to harness climate financing strategies that address the impacts of climate change while contributing to both climate adaptation and mitigation interventions and ensuring green development. The Summit recognizes Africa’s potential for global climate solutions, emphasizing the need for fair and equitable allocation of resources and support, particularly for African nations that have historically contributed the least to climate change but are disproportionately affected by its impacts, yet the continent has immense potential for climate change rectifications for the region specifically, and the globe in general.
The ACS-2 is Africa’s moment to lead global climate action. Ahead of COP30 and building on ACS-1, ACS-2 will unify Africa’s voice to shape global climate negotiations. It will push for fairer global finance systems, prioritizing renewable energy, nature-based and technology-based solutions, adaptation, and community-led solutions. This vision empowers African communities, especially youth and indigenous groups, to shape a prosperous, climate-resilient future. The Summit will seek to elevate the climate change crisis as a justice and fairness issue, resonating with the African Union theme of the year (2025), “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations”.
The ACS-2 is firmly guided by key principles, including a strong commitment to multilateralism and the imperative to restore trust in the global governance processes established to tackle climate change impacts. The Summit is built on principles that reflect a shift in how climate action is approached: It upholds international rights frameworks, providing the legal and moral foundation for just and equitable climate action; recognizes the interdependence of nations and the need for a new, respectful model of sustainable development that reduces emissions in developed countries, scales up adaptation efforts, and ensures access to green technologies for the world’s most vulnerable; prioritizes transparency and accountability, ensuring that climate policy decisions are informed by science and responsive to the needs of low-income countries; and, champions partnerships that promote nature- and people-centred investments, offering innovative and sustainable solutions to climate challenges.
ACS2 is a pivotal moment for Africa to reshape its role in the global climate finance landscape – not only for the continent but for the globe as well. The Summit provides an opportunity for an African Leaders Addis Ababa Declaration on Accelerating Global Climate Solutions and Financing for Africa’s Resilient and Green Development accompanied by a Call to Action, urging African Union Member States and development partners to lead its implementation.
The African Union Commission media directorate says the expected outcomes of the ACS2 include to:
➢ Position Africa as a unified force to influence COP30, G20, and UNGA outcomes.
➢ Drive concrete reforms to scale grant-based climate finance
➢ Showcase African-led climate solutions with potential for global impact
➢ Strengthen national and local systems and country platforms to manage and deliver climate finance
➢ Build strategic partnerships to support just transition and climate justice across the continent
Expected outputs are:
I. Adoption of the African Leaders Addis Ababa Declaration on Accelerating Climate Action and Finance for Africa’s Green Future and Call to Action.
II. Launch of flagship Report on initiatives and strategic partnerships for national, regional, continental and global levels.
III. Mobilization of green investment commitments, including showcasing of multi-billion-dollar projects across various sectors
IV. Announcements of progress on major ongoing continents and international climate global initiatives.
V. A clear roadmap for the implementation of the Summit’s declaration, announcements, and investment commitments