Experts call for stronger partnerships In global decarbonisation

Calls for deeper, purpose-driven collaboration across government, business, and civil society took center stage at the World Decarbonisation Summit 2025 in Abuja, where delegates urged that the race to net zero cannot be won without robust, inclusive partnerships and sustained investment in people and technology.

Hosted at the PTDF Centre under the theme “Accelerating Decarbonisation for a Climate-Secure Future,” the two-day gathering convened policymakers, industry professionals, and community advocates. Organisers emphasized that progress hinges on aligning policy certainty with private capital, scaling proven technologies, and ensuring communities—especially women and youth—are equipped to lead the transition.

Speakers underscored that collaboration is more than a slogan: it determines whether climate ambition becomes real-world outcomes. They argued that clear regulatory frameworks, blended finance, and open innovation are the three pillars that can rapidly cut emissions while delivering energy access and decent jobs. Without these, they warned, pilot projects will stall and hard-to-abate sectors will lag behind global targets.

Women at the heart of the transition

A strong message resonated throughout the summit: women’s leadership must be embedded—not appended—in climate decision-making. Advocates stressed that women across Africa are already building renewable mini-grids, advancing climate-smart agriculture, and steering community resilience programs, yet they often face barriers to finance, visibility, and technical support.

Participants called for practical steps to close these gaps, including gender-responsive climate funds, mentorship and incubation networks for women-led ventures, and procurement policies that require diverse supplier participation. The premise is clear: when women are fully included, climate solutions scale faster and reach more households and microenterprises, particularly in underserved regions.

From summit floor to field results

Rather than issuing declarations, delegates pressed for a concrete playbook to speed up decarbonisation. Key actions identified include:

• Policy and market signals: time-bound targets, predictable regulations, and carbon pricing or standards that reward low-carbon choices.
• Finance that meets reality: blended finance vehicles to de-risk early projects; concessional capital for mini-grids, clean cooking, and e-mobility; and results-based funding for last-mile access.
• Technology diffusion: partnerships that pair local innovation with global know-how, alongside open data, skills training, and repair ecosystems to sustain assets beyond the pilot phase.
• Just transition safeguards: community consent, worker reskilling, and social protection measures to ensure decarbonisation improves livelihoods.
• Local manufacturing and jobs: incentives to produce components regionally—solar, storage, and efficiency technologies—to build resilient supply chains.

Summit contributors emphasized that Nigeria and wider African markets can lead in distributed renewables, energy efficiency, and nature-based solutions if capital and policy align. The message was pragmatic: prioritize bankable projects, streamline permits, and standardize contracts to cut soft costs that currently stall deployment.

Rewiring collaboration

The gathering highlighted a shift from competitive postures to co-development models. Energy firms, financiers, and community organisations were urged to co-design projects from inception to ensure social license, speed, and durability. This approach, attendees noted, reduces project risk and builds local ownership—critical for longevity and scale.

Organisers also showcased the role of professional networks and sector groups in brokering trust, curating talent, and keeping momentum between major conferences. Such platforms are uniquely positioned to channel mentorship, technical support, and investment toward women-led and community-first initiatives.

Momentum and the road ahead

Looking beyond the summit, participants proposed a set of near-term milestones to translate commitments into outcomes:

• Launch a partnership accelerator to match public programs with private developers and civil society, focusing on high-impact sectors like clean power, efficiency retrofits, and low-carbon transport.
• Establish a dedicated window for women-led climate enterprises within existing green finance facilities, with tailored technical assistance.
• Create a shared pipeline of investable projects with standardized documentation to attract institutional investors.
• Expand training for engineers, technicians, and community energy managers to support rapid deployment and maintenance.
• Track progress with transparent metrics: megawatts installed, emissions avoided, jobs created, and percentage of funding reaching women-led initiatives.

Delegates concluded that partnership is the engine of implementation: when policy makers set stable rules, financiers crowd in capital, and communities co-own solutions, decarbonisation accelerates—and it does so fairly. The Abuja summit’s central takeaway is unmistakable: inclusive collaboration is not a “nice to have,” it is the pathway to a climate-secure future.