Cote d'Ivoire

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2013
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Since 2013, Côte d’Ivoire has been working with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) and air pollution, thereby improving the food security, health, and development of their citizens and people around the world.

“Cote d’Ivoire does not intend to be on the side lines of efforts to meet the challenges of climate change and air pollution,” said Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development Joseph Séka Séka. “The National Action Plan to Reduce SLCPs is of strategic importance for development in Cote d’Ivoire. This is why taking it into account in preparing the next National Development Plan and in strengthening our ambition to global climate goals in our NDC is a priority for us.”

Air pollution is a serious health concern in Cote D’Ivoire, responsible for an estimated 34,000 premature deaths in 2016, which included 8,000 children’s deaths from respiratory infection. This reality motivated the country to join the CCAC’s SNAP initiative which helped identify priority areas to take action, including the waste sector, transportation, refineries, health, and urban planning.

In 2015, Côte d’Ivoire became one of 15 countries to specifically address SLCPs, air pollution, and the variety of co-benefits their mitigation provides in their Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) as well as committing to developing a national action plan to address them.

The country continued to move forward with this commitment, working with the CCAC in their First Biennial Update Report in 2018 to develop a strategy on SLCP mitigation. As part of this work, the country also committed to developing an inventory for monitoring SLCPs in the capital city of Abidjan.

The work began to bear real fruit in 2019 when Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development officially adopted the National SLCP Action Plan. This plan outlined 16 mitigation measures which, if fully implemented, would lead to a 59 percent reduction in black carbon emissions and a 34 percent reduction in methane emissions by 2030. These measures will reduce other air pollutants as well, like nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, while also reducing CO2 emissions. Furthermore, implementation would save over 1,000 lives from deaths associated with air pollution. Overall, the plan would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 19 percent in 2030, which would achieve over half of the country’s climate change mitigation commitment.

In 2020, with the support of the NDC Partnership’s Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP) initiative and the CCAC, the Government of Côte d’Ivoire began work integrating the SLCP national action plan into the current NDC revision process. This is part of the preparatory phase of the overall implementation of the SLCP National Action Plan.

The city of Abidjan has also been working with the CCAC’s Waste Initiative on a project to strengthen expert capacity to reduce black carbon and methane from municipal waste. This work has assisted with the closure of Akouedo dump, a saturated and dangerous landfill in the capital. 

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Oil and gas

  • In 2019, Côte d’Ivoire formally announced their membership in the Global Methane Alliance. The Ministry of the Environment of Côte d’Ivoire hosted the alliance’s high-level regional meeting in Abidjan, which brought together key country leaders from regional governments, representatives from national and international oil companies, and local and international experts to discuss methane reduction targets in the oil and gas sector.

Air pollution

  • In 2018, in collaboration with the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), Côte d’Ivoire published a Strategy for the Reduction of Air Pollution in Abidjan. This involved developing maps for air quality monitoring equipment in high-risk areas, drafting frameworks for air quality regulations, a strategy for air quality monitoring, and an air quality management plan that included recommendations.

Heavy-duty vehicles

  • In 2020, Côte d’Ivoire adopted a new regulation through the Energy Ministry to raise resources to improve fuel quality in Côte d’Ivoire, particularly reducing sulphur content in diesel in line with the regional agreement forged the same year when the environment and energy ministers of all the 15 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), met in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and adopted a comprehensive set of regulations for introducing cleaner fuels and vehicles in the region.
  • In 2017, Côte d’Ivoire adopted a decree to limit the age of used vehicles for importation or general use. The measure became fully effective in 2018.
  • In 2017, Abidjan joined 20 other cities in a scheme through which four of the world’s largest bus and engine manufacturers committed to making it easier for major cities to purchase buses equipped with low emissions technologies, in order to tackle climate change and toxic air pollution.
  • In 2016, Côte d’Ivoire was one of 36 countries to recognize and fully endorsed the Global Sulfur Strategy’s approach and targets, pledging to reduce black carbon emissions with cleaner diesel fuels and vehicles.
  • In 2016, Côte d’Ivoire, along with four other West African countries, agreed to ban importing dirty fuels from Europe. Strict standards were introduced to ensure cleaner, low-sulphur diesel fuels and vehicles emission standards. These actions will dramatically reduce vehicle emissions and help more than 250 million people breathe safer, cleaner air.

Energy

  • In 2018, the government signed an agreement to build a 25-MW solar plant near the town of Korhogo to meet growing electricity demand without increasing emissions.

Agriculture

Climate finance

  • In 2020, a workshop held in Jacqueville helped train and establish a pool of national experts to develop successful projects for climate funds such as the Green Climate Fund. The meeting was organized by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development with technical support from the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States and brought together more than thirty participants from various organizations.
  • In 2016, Côte d’Ivoire’s REDD+ Strategy of 2016 included $24 million in grants and concessional financing that focused on curbing destructive activities such as illegal logging in natural forests, reducing the amount of wood for household use, promoting forest cover restoration and conservation activities through agroforestry, improved forest management, and alternative sources of income for rural communities. 

Contacts

Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development
Abidjan,Côte d'Ivoire
Website

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