Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 23rd February 2022 – The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) today announced that, through its Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program with the African Development Bank (AfDB), it will mainstream climate adaptation and resilience measures at the program and project level in the Desert to Power initiative, a key pillar of the Great Green Wall Initiative in the Sahel.

The Sahel region is highly affected by climate change – it represents a severe threat to the livelihoods of more than 80 percent of the population living in rural areas. Climate shocks like droughts are becoming increasingly frequent and are affecting more people, while shorter, more intense and less predictable rainy seasons are increasing the risk of floods.

Desert to Power is a flagship renewable energy and economic development initiative led by the African Development Bank. Its objective is to light up and power the Sahel region by building an electricity generation capacity of 10 gigawatts through photovoltaic solar systems via public, private grid and off-grid projects by 2030. This will make the Sahel the world’s largest solar production zone and connect 250 million people to clean electricity. Currently the level of power generation is 35 watts per a capita, a third of the Sub-Saharan African Africa average and 4% of the global average. Eleven countries are expected to benefit from the initiative: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and Chad.

GCA will provide upstream technical assistance to all projects supported by the Desert to Power G5 Sahel Financing Facility in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger – five countries which are amongst the poorest in Africa with an average GDP 2.5 times lower than the rest of the continent. GCA will ensure the projects are screened for climate risk vulnerability assessment and will also provide practical risk management and climate adaptation options to ensure the investment is climate proof to current and projected climate risks.

READ more from the second link above about the Desert to Power initiative
Desert to Power will stretch across the Sahel region, connecting
250 million people with electricity by tapping into the region’s abundant solar resources
Desert to Power will make the Sahel the world’s largest solar production zone with up to 10 000 MW of solar generation capacity
Desert to Power will speed up economic development through the deployment of solar technology


Notes to Editors

About the Global Center on Adaptation
The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is an international organization which works as a solutions broker to accelerate action and support for adaptation solutions, from the international to the local, in partnership with the public and private sector, to ensure we learn from each other and work together for a climate resilient future. Founded in 2018, GCA is hosted by the Netherlands, working from its headquarters in Rotterdam with a knowledge and research hub based in Groningen. GCA has a worldwide network of regional offices in Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Dhaka, Bangladesh and Beijing, China. Through this evolving network of offices and global and regional GCA teams, the organization engages in high-level policy activities, new research contributions, communications, and technical assistance to governments and the private sector.