Ethiopia Shares Experience on Climate Change Innovation at Petersberg Climate Dialogue
Addis Ababa: Ethiopia’s Minister of Planning and Development, Fitsum Assefa, has shared the country’s successful national innovative and locally available adaptation and mitigation climate actions across various sectors on the second day of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue 2025.
According to Ethiopian News Agency, the Green Legacy initiative and its success stories were commended during the dialogue, with many agreeing that it deserves to be scaled out to other countries. Fitsum presented the secrets of the initiative’s success, highlighting that Ethiopia’s land coverage increased to 23.6 percent in 2023, marking about a 6 percent increment since the initiative’s inception in 2019.
The Minister emphasized the initiative’s impact on supporting local communities by systematically including fruit-bearing trees and other agroforestry plant species, enabling farmers to export products such as avocado. She called for recognition of such locally suitable adaptation practices that provide mitigation co-benefits whi
le addressing the economic needs of developing countries.
The international community is urged to enhance financial and other support for priority climate actions, especially for countries disproportionately affected by climate change, such as Ethiopia. Other countries participating in the Petersberg Climate Dialogue 2025 applauded Ethiopia’s achievements and agreed to support the initiative for regional and global impact.
On the sidelines of the dialogue, Minister Fitsum met with Assistant Secretary-General Selwin Hart, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action and Just Transition. They agreed to collaborate on climate policy planning processes, including the third generation of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC3.0), which Ethiopia recently launched, aiming for submission ahead of COP30, possibly by September 2025.
Additionally, they agreed to facilitate the participation of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the 2nd Africa Climate Summit, scheduled for September 2025 in Addi
s Ababa. The Minister also met with Pablo Vieira, Global Director of the NDC Partnership Support Unit, agreeing that the unit will support Ethiopia in developing an implementable NDC3.0 and work towards hosting a successful 2nd Africa Climate Summit.