Midlands

Bulawayo

Matabeleland North

Harare

Matabeleland South

Manicaland

Masvingo

Mashonaland Central

Mashonaland West

Mashonaland East

Zimbabwe

Reduction of national greenhouse gases emissions by at least 2% by 2015 against a 2011 baseline

Institute demand side management to savings of up to 3000MW by 2013 by 2013 against a 2011 baseline

"Every person a tree" reafforestation initiative by 2015 against a 2011 baseline

A minimum ethanol/petrol blend target of 20% by 2015, and a 5% biodiesel blend by 2020

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<p>Financing Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for catchment resilience in Southern Africa emphasizes empowering local, vulnerable communities to manage shared water basins and restore degraded land through tailored, community-designed Catchment Investment Programmes (CIPs) and micro-grant mechanisms.</p>

Eastern and Southern Africa are highly vulnerable to climate change, facing recurrent droughts, floods, heatwaves, and increasingly erratic rainfall that intensify water stress and land degradation. These climate stresses are compounded by rapid population growth, projected to rise from around 749 million in 2023 to nearly 964 million by 2050, placing growing pressure on already overstretched infrastructure. In 2023, around 365 million people lacked access to electricity and 580 million lacked access to clean cooking, severely constraining adaptation, productivity, and health outcomes across the region.

The ASCENT-GREEN project  aims to support climate-vulnerable communities across 21 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa by catalysing private-sector delivery of distributed renewable energy, clean cooking, and productive-use energy. It seeks to increase climate resilience, drive economic development, and reduce emissions across some of the region's most remote and fragile contexts.

Structured around three components, the project will establish a regional energy access financing facility providing affordable lending, results-based financing, and technical assistance, prioritizing rural households, fragile, conflict-affected populations, small and medium-sized enterprises and women-owned enterprises; develop regional de-risking facilities including a risk-sharing facility and a carbon risk mitigation facility to crowd in private capital; and establish a Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)-led regional platform to coordinate policy, technical assistance, and knowledge sharing across participating countries.

Through financing instruments that address barriers such as affordability, risk perception, and scaling up, the project will mobilise significantly larger private flows and accelerate market transformations, enabling far greater reach. It is expected to directly benefit 28.8 million people and indirectly reach a further 13.8 million, supporting improved access to energy services and enhanced resilience across participating countries.

To support twenty-five (25) developing countries in the preparation and submission of BTRs and combined BTR/National Communications (BTR/NCs) in a gender-responsive manner that aligns with the reporting requirements of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement (PA), while also addressing each country's unique national development priorities.

Zimbabwe is among the twenty most climate-vulnerable countries worldwide (ranked 174 out of 187 on ND-GAIN 2023). With 70 to 80 per cent of livelihoods reliant on rain-fed agriculture, climate shocks devastate food security, incomes, and social stability. Adolescents and youth, who comprise 62 per cent of the population, are particularly affected. They face reduced agricultural opportunities, disrupted education, climate-induced migration, and unemployment (especially young women). Without targeted interventions, climate impacts will deepen vulnerability, inequality, and poverty.

This project will strengthen climate resilience in Zimbabwe by empowering adolescents and youth with the skills, resources, and opportunities needed to drive local climate adaptation efforts. The initiative seeks to reduce climate vulnerability and improve livelihoods across six districts in three provinces by fostering green job creation and facilitating access to finance. It will also support the restoration and sustainable management of 56,750 hectares of land, strengthening ecosystems critical to rural livelihoods.

The project will achieve three interlinked outcomes with social, gender, economic, and environmental co-benefits: empowering adolescents and youth to co-design and implement local adaptation plans in partnership with their communities, private sector and governments; restoring local degraded ecosystems; and supporting the development of climate-resilient value chains for crops, livestock, and agroforestry by equipping local producers.

Central to the project’s approach is Locally Led Adaptation (LLA), operationalised through the development of Local Adaptation Plans (LAPs) that build on existing Local Environmental Action Plans.

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