Supporting African countries
on their energy data and GHG modelling
for NDC reporting
Unlock insights in our latest white paper!
The NDC Support Center is proud to present our newly released
white paper, Building Sustainable Capacity for Climate Action
in Africa — The Role of the NDC Support Center.
This essential read shares key findings and best practices
gleaned from three years of supporting African Union Member States
on their journey towards effective climate change mitigation.
Don't miss out — download the white paper below and learn
how we are making a difference!
The African continent faces profound vulnerabilities to climate change, affecting agriculture, food security, livelihoods, and water resources. The NDC Support Centre – a joint initiative of AFREC and VITO – seeks to strengthen and empower African countries in coping with these challenges.
Our mission is to develop country-specific Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and Long-term Low Emissions and Development Strategies (LT-LEDS) to align with international commitments, especially those outlined in the Paris Agreement.
NDCs: Key to Global Climate Action
Central to our efforts is the concept of Nationally Determined Contributions, which are national climate plans outlining targets, policies, and measures that governments aim to implement in response to climate change. These contributions are not only a response to global climate action, but also a reflection of each country’s determination to pursue domestic mitigation measures.
The Paris Agreement mandates each country to prepare, communicate, and maintain successive NDCs, intending to achieve the objectives outlined in these contributions. The success of these climate actions collectively determines the world’s ability to meet the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, including reducing the global peaking of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as soon as possible.
Establishment and Success of the Pilot Program
Recognizing the critical need for improved energy statistics and modeling capabilities in African nations, AFREC and VITO secured funding from the Government of Flanders to establish the NDC Support Centre Pilot Program. The Pilot Program, which commenced in 2021 and will conclude in 2024, successfully supported four African countries – Morocco, Malawi, Uganda, and Mozambique.
Through a tailored approach, the program enhanced the quality and detail of energy statistics, developed modeling capabilities, and established improved governance processes for NDC reporting.
VIDEO
Discover the Impact of the NDC Support Centre Pilot Program
The NDC Support Center: A New Chapter
Fueled by the success of the Pilot Program, the NDC Support Centre now embarks on a new chapter, extending its support to more African countries under the leadership of the African Union Commission (AUC). Building on the experiences gained in the initial phase, we continue to address the unique challenges and varied data maturity levels across African countries.
The NDC Support Centre focuses on three main domains crucial for effective climate action: improving energy statistics, developing in-country energy models, and establishing Monitoring, Reporting & Verification (MRV) frameworks.
To achieve these goals, the Centre employs four types of interventions: capacity building and dissemination, IT investments, and facilitating demonstration projects.
Multi-Level Commitment
Our commitment extends over 3-5 years, offering long-term, continuous support to African countries. The Centre’s activities encompass providing technical and financial assistance, empowering countries to collect accurate data, and building capacity for the development and implementation of climate mitigation models and policies aligned with national priorities.
The NDC Support Centre acknowledges the multi-level nature of climate action. We aim to empower international/regional organizations, national government stakeholders , and local centers of excellence. Working under direct national leadership, we collaborate closely with designated Ministries responsible for NDC and LT-LEDS development.
Phased Approach for Holistic Support
The Centre’s support unfolds in four phases: situational analysis and data gap analysis, improving and expanding sector data statistics, climate and sector strategy modeling, and governance and NDC/LT-LEDS process support.
Across these phases, we offer technical support, capacity building, and IT investments to the specific needs of each country.
Empowering African Countries for a Sustainable Future
In conclusion, the African NDC Support Center plays a pivotal role in empowering African countries to navigate the complexities of climate change. By supporting data collection, enhancing energy statistics, modeling, and facilitating climate policy development, we aim to align climate mitigation efforts with national development priorities.
Through these concerted efforts, we contribute to building policy-focused resilience to climate change, ensuring sustainable development, and improving the livelihoods of African communities.
PARTNER COUNTRIES
In this first phase, the NDC Support Center is working with three partner countries by actively engaging ministries and agencies currently working collectively in the planning and implementation of NDCs in the respective countries
Malawi
Morocco
Mozambique
Uganda
NEWS
ABOUT US
The Center started operations in early 2021 and will initially run for 3 years. It is implemented by the following three partners:
VITO, a leading European independent research and technology organization in the areas of cleantech and sustainable development. VITO has over 840 highly qualified employees working on sustainable energy, climate planning, agriculture, materials management and land use. VITO’s Energy and Environment modelling team is dedicated to this project. The team has about 25 years of experience in energy and climate statistics and modelling, environment economics and policy advisory, relies on a team of 20 employees, most of them engineers, statisticians, economists, may with PhD’s in Applied Mathematics/energy system modelling with economic or business management skills, including senior experts from international organizations.
African Energy Commission (AFREC), the specialized agency on energy of the African Union. Its core mandate is to design, create and set up an energy continental data base and facilitate rapid dissemination of information among Member States, Regional Economic Communities around Africa, investors, academia and other stakeholders. Since 2012, AFREC has put in place and maintained the African Energy Information System (AEIS), which allows to collect African country energy statistics disseminate these data through publications and datasets available online. AFREC has become the main source of energy statistics data from African Member states, continental and regional African institutions, and International organizations who use this data as their main source of energy statistics.
CO2logic, a carbon and environmental consultancy company. Consisting of 30 motivated colleagues, it provides services to companies and public entities in calculating, reducing and offsetting their carbon emissions. CO2logic facilitates the necessary finance and develops projects mainly in Sub Saharan Africa that reduce carbon emissions, protect biodiversity and bring real benefits for local communities.
The NDC Support Center is only possible thanks to the financial support from the Flemish Government.
CONTACT
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