Mott MacDonald helps Addis Ababa adapt to changing climate

Mott MacDonald has supported the development of a climate action plan, which was today published by the Addis Ababa Environmental Protection and Green Development Commission, in collaboration with C40 Cities.

C40 is a network of 97 cities around the world and works to help them take bold climate action, leading the way towards a healthier and more sustainable future.

As the capital and largest city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa plays a crucial role in the country’s ambition to transition to a middle-income country by 2025. However, the city faces a range of climate hazards and improving resilience to climate change is vital to meeting these ambitions.

As part of the climate action plan, Mott MacDonald’s team of climate resilience experts delivered a bespoke climate change risk assessment and supported the city-led development of a suite of adaptation actions, designed to ensure that the city remain a liveable, resilient city in the face of a rapidly changing climate.

The risk assessment identified key climate risks, vulnerable areas within the city, and knowledge gaps. These risks were then assessed for their impact on the city’s economic sectors. Changes to the rainy season caused by climate change, for example, was found to already affect Ethiopia’s hydropower production, and is projected to get worse by the 2050s.

A list of twenty short, medium and long-term adaptation actions were also proposed, covering seven sectors: urban planning, health, infrastructure, energy, critical ecosystems, water and food security. To increase the resilience of the city’s energy supply to climate change, for instance, river basin and watershed management were prioritised to adapt and protect both hydropower potential and water resources.

“It’s so great to see this major milestone report, the Climate Action Plan for Addis Ababa, being launched. I am especially pleased to see how well our climate risk and impact assessment and adaptation action identification and prioritisation technical work has been received and integrated to advance the action on climate adaptation in Addis Ababa,” said Nikki Kent, project manager and principal climate resilience consultant, Mott MacDonald.

Kent continued: “We have been able to deliver effective and valuable capacity building and by liaising with local and city stakeholders through virtual workshops and surveys, we have been able to identify truly bespoke adaptation opportunities for Addis Ababa, which will also bring with them a number of cross-sectoral co-benefits.”

“The Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) Study done by Mott MacDonald adds value to the climate action planning work for the city of Addis by C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group providing critical evidence base for climate risk and impact assessment and adaptation action identification and prioritisation. The results of this piece of work have helped frame the adaptation aspects of the Climate Action Plan (CAP) for Addis as it serves as the first CCRA Study done for the city. This also serves as a benchmark for any future work that will be done in this space,” said Elizabeth Mwangi, Technical Advisor, Climate Action Planning Programme, East Africa, C40 Cities.