To navigate the climate crisis, we must see where we're going
NEWSLETTER, February 2025 — CCI chapters setting goals for 2025; CCI brief for Finance in Common Summit; CCI leaders on African TV; Diplomacy under pressure: The Belém Opportunity
If you're driving along a twisting, mountainous road at night, the last thing you would do is turn off your headlights, because you'd be sure to run off the road and crash your car. Yet, when it comes to climate change and navigating a perilous future, that's pretty much what is happening with a directive from the Trump administration for US government scientists to stop working on a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “The IPCC is the backbone of global climate science, providing the world with unbiased, evidence-based insights needed to confront the climate crisis,” said Harjeet Singh, a climate advocate and founding director of Satat Sampada Climate Foundation. “The decision to exclude US scientists significantly undermines this collaborative effort and risks compromising the process at a time when robust climate action is needed more than ever.” In addition to providing much-needed urgency for the need to phase out fossil fuels, the IPCC reports also offer guidance on measures needed to adapt to conditions — rising sea levels, extreme heat and rainfall — that threaten the livability of many places throughout the world. Without these critical IPCC reports, we rush headlong toward the future blindfolded, unable to see the pitfalls that must be avoided. Citizens must demand that their governments refrain from poor decisions like this. Without precious knowledge, we doom ourselves to a chaotic, unpredictable and disastrous world.
CCI chapters setting goals for 2025
At the start of the year, Climate Civics International asked chapters around the world to meet with their volunteers to set goals for the coming year and make plans for achieving those goals. More than a dozen chapters responded and shared their goal-setting plans with us to take action on tree planting, food security, transitioning away from fossil fuels, climate awareness, policy advocacy and other activities.
Gloria Bulus in Nigeria's Kaduna chapter reported her group set four goals — tree planting, climate change awareness, community engagement and policy advocacy. Their tree planting campaign aims to add 10 million trees in the next four years to combat deforestation and improve air quality. They'll start with a modest goal of planting 10,000 trees this year with several actions:
Collaborate with local schools, community groups, and government agencies to organize tree planting events.
Distribute tree saplings to households and educate residents on the benefits of afforestation.
Monitor and maintain planted trees to ensure survival and growth.
Read more about the goals our groups are setting in our new blog post.
CCI Brief for Finance in Common Summit
Last month, the Finance in Common Summit was held in Cape Town, South Africa, and Climate Civics International offered a policy brief outlining the tools and strategies to accelerate the movement of capital to address climate change and achieve Sustainable Development Goals.
With the sudden retreat of support from major donors like the United States, the collapse of critical climate systems could happen faster than expected, leading to disastrous consequences. As CCI's policy brief notes,
“If such aid is not delivered, we know the trends toward local destabilization will rapidly worsen in many places, and safeguards against the spread of conflict will be undermined."
CCI’s policy brief recommends "renewed exploration of connections and teleconnections to inform financial data and other performance metrics that drive decision-making. The aim of this recommendation is simple: We need to begin connecting the dots in ways we have not done so to date."
CCI Leaders on African TV
In the past month or so, CCI leaders in Africa have appeared on several national television shows. At the end of January, Dr. Michael Terungwa David, CCI regional coordinator for Africa, was interviewed on Nigeria’s Arise TV, where he talked about the country’s food insecurity crisis: “With the current climatic conditions that the country is experiencing, and not just Nigeria but the whole of Africa, you will know that one of the very first things that climate impacts is food security — when there is drought, when there is a dry spell and when the rains don't come on time.” He also talked about food as a basic human right on Nigeria Television Authority.
In early February, CCI Nigeria Coordinator Joseph Ibrahim was interviewed on Trust TV’s Business Daily. He talked about the importance of learning to adapt to changing climate conditions: “You see people who experienced flood last year. Two years ago they experienced flood, and then this year they are praying that God will help them, that the flood will not come this year. But you've experienced it two years consecutively, so it's only wise that you plan for it.”
Diplomacy under pressure: The Belém Opportunity
The next round of Earth Diplomacy Leadership workshops opens on March 12. These workshops are designed to prepare stakeholders for the COP30 round of UNFCCC negotiations, which will take place in November 2025 in Belém, Brazil. COP30 will be an opportunity to change the climate policy game and motivate worldwide accelerated action toward a climate-resilient future. That opportunity will be greater if progress on the way to Belém is more diverse and widespread.
Consolidating progress toward a livable future in Belém will require major progress, in terms of policy, practical operational innovation, and real-world everyday mobilization of finance, across the following areas:
Deep regenerative land use and agroforestry
Nature restoration, management, and value-building
Mainstream climate-smart finance, including Good Food Finance
Net-zero by 2040 — Climate income is a policy that can accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.
Advanced multidimensional metrics — Resilience Value and/or Climate Value can link non-financial benefits to financial performance data to drive enhanced decision-making at all levels.
Updates
The CCI group in Freetown, Sierra Leone, carried out a tree planting and awareness raising exercise in Mayekeni, Calaba Town, Freetown. A total of 50 economic trees were planted.
CCI volunteers in Mutare, Zimbabwe, joined Manica Youth Assembly (MAYA) to organize a press conference to raise awareness about the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and its importance for Zimbabwe. The event engaged the media on the need for a transition away from fossil fuels and also call for Zimbabwe to endorse and amplify the treaty.
Upcoming events
Monday, March 10 – Climate Value Exchange Monthly Meeting – Learn More
Tuesday, March 11 – Monthly Call for Climate Civics Volunteers – Register to Join
Wednesday, March 12 – Diplomacy under Pressure: The Belém Opportunity – Register to Join
Wednesday, March 19 – Advancing Climate-Smart Trade and Finance – Learn More
Wednesday, March 26 – Data Systems Integration Forum – Learn More