USAID is committed to collaborating with other parts of the U.S. Government and global partners to make progress on combating climate change. USAID leads and participates in a number of global and regional climate initiatives, including:
Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate): USAID is a strong supporter of this ambitious five-year initiative launched by the US and UAE in 2021 to catalyze investments in research and development in climate-smart food systems. AIM for Climate has already mobilized over $17 billion from over 600 partners, including 55 governments. In 2023, USAID announced it had achieved—two years ahead of schedule—its $215 million AIM for Climate funding commitment to the CGIAR to help vulnerable countries address the impacts of climate change on their food systems. And through Feed the Future USAID is building on this strong record and return on investment by investing an additional $100 million through 2025, subject to availability of funds, into these efforts through the CGIAR. USAID has also helped to mobilize over $300 million in Innovation Sprints with private sector and other partners to address challenges faced by smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries, reduce methane emissions, scale emerging technologies, and increase gender equity and outcomes for women and youth.
Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative (CACCI): CACCI is a global, USAID-led initiative to help partner countries meet their Paris Agreement climate commitments by creating programs and policies to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Initially launched as an Africa-focused initiative in 2021, it was expanded into a global effort in 2022. Through CACCI, USAID has supported more than 30 partner countries to develop and implement policies in line with their climate and development goals, such as their Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans.
Clean EDGE Asia: USAID helps advance the U.S. Government’s Indo-Pacific Strategy for a free and open, connected, prosperous, resilient, and secure Indo-Pacific. USAID is leading efforts with partners to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mobilize investments for clean energy, increase clean energy generation and deployment, and improve energy services for households across the region.
Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF): CGEF is an innovative public-private partnership led by USAID that seeks to increase access to climate finance for gender-responsive, women-led, and women-benefiting organizations. CGEF has raised over $24 million for the fund by welcoming Reckitt, Skoll Foundation, The UPS Foundation, and Visa Foundation to the partnership with USAID and Amazon. Since its launch at COP27, CGEF has held two funding rounds to support women-led and women-benefiting investment funds and network organizations investing in gender-responsive climate solutions. For round three, CGEF will select additional grantees from its existing pipeline of over 600 gender-responsive climate solutions in emerging markets globally. CGEF continues to seek new public and private partners to help mobilize climate finance for women and girls on the front lines of climate change.
Global Climate Ambition Initiative: In 2021, the White House launched the Global Climate Ambition Initiative to coordinate U.S. Government support to strengthen and implement partner countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans under the Paris Agreement, and advance towards net-zero and newer, enhanced commitments. To support this initiative, USAID’s development portfolio in over 80 countries was aligned with countries’ Paris Agreement climate commitments in fiscal year 2023.
Global Methane Pledge: The Global Methane Pledge was launched by the European Union and the United States at COP26 in 2021. As of March 2024, 158 participants had pledged to take voluntary actions to contribute to a collective effort to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030. USAID supports partner countries that are committed to the pledge to measure and reduce methane emissions and other short-lived climate pollutants from the energy, agriculture/food system, solid waste, and sanitation sectors. At COP28 in 2023, USAID announced recent investments in several groundbreaking initiatives aimed at addressing methane emissions in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Nigeria. USAID also formed new partnerships with nine private companies to address food loss and waste under its Food Loss and Waste Accelerator launched in 2023, in support of U.S. Government Actions to Detect and Reduce Climate Super Pollutants.
One Trillion Trees (1t): At COP27 in 2022, in furtherance of USAID’s partnership with 1t.org, USAID joined the 1t.org U.S. chapter and reiterated its commitment to partnering with public, private, and civil society organizations including 1t.org to meet USAID’s Climate Strategy target of supporting the conservation, restoration, or management of 100 million hectares of land with a climate mitigation benefit by 2030. In implementing this target, USAID is working in the most carbon-rich landscapes, like the tropical rainforests of the Amazon, Congo, and Southeast Asia. USAID’s pledge to 1t.org builds on the Agency’s history of highly impactful partnerships in the natural climate solutions space. From 2017-2022, USAID’s conservation work mobilized over $1 billion in public and private investment and reduced over 450 million tons of CO2 emissions—equal to taking 100 million cars off the road for a year. For more information on USAID’s progress towards this target, visit USAID’s Climate Strategy Data Hub.
Plan to Conserve Global Forests: Critical Carbon Sinks: The U.S. Government announced its Plan to Conserve Global Forests: Critical Carbon Sinks at COP26 in 2021. The plan sets forth the U.S. Government’s approach to conserve globally important forests in the Amazon, Congo, Southeast Asia, and other critical ecosystems worldwide that sequester large quantities of greenhouse gasses with diplomatic, policy, and financing tools over the next decade. USAID programs in countries such as Brazil, Indonesia, the Congo Basin, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Peru, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Cambodia, and Bangladesh support this first U.S. whole-of-government plan to meet USAID’s Climate Strategy target of supporting the conservation, restoration, or management of 100 million hectares of land with a climate mitigation benefit by 2030. For more information on USAID’s progress towards this target, visit USAID’s Climate Strategy Data Hub.
Power Africa: Power Africa is a U.S. Government-led partnership to harness the collective resources of the public and private sectors to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. Some Power Africa programs contribute to combating the climate crisis; Power Africa’s goal is to add at least 30,000 megawatts of cleaner and more reliable electricity generation capacity and 60 million connections by 2030. For examples of Power Africa programs with climate benefits, visit Beyond the Grid, Prioritizing Women’s Leadership on Climate Change, and Building Community Resilience to the Effects of Climate Change.
Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Environments (RISE): USAID’s RISE grants challenge funds projects addressing gender-based violence (GBV) within and linked to environment and climate-related sectors. It was born out of a study developed under the Advancing Gender in the Environment (AGENT) project, implemented by partner the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which illuminated the various ways GBV and the environment and climate intersect. RISE is the only mechanism doing this work. It was designed to spur partnerships between environmental organizations, local communities, Indigenous Peoples organizations, and gender and GBV experts. Thus far it has funded 18 projects in 15 countries, from working on sexual harassment in conservancies, to addressing sex-for-fish, to working on GBV as a barrier for women’s land rights and forestry engagement, to addressing Indigenous women environmental human rights defenders’ safety from violence. Norad joined RISE as a donor partner in 2023, contributing approximately $3 million to its efforts for two years' rounds of grants funding.
Women in the Sustainable Economy Initiative (WISE): In 2023, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Week, Vice President Kamala Harris launched the WISE Initiative, a flagship effort of the U.S. Government to bolster women’s economic empowerment globally by expanding access to employment, training, leadership roles, and financial resources in the industries critical to our future and the future of our planet. At COP28 in 2023, the U.S. Government announced plans for Advancing Women’s and Girls’ Leadership in Tackling the Climate Crisis, including galvanizing over $1.4 billion in investments from the U.S. Government and partners through the WISE Initiative. As part of the U.S. Government-wide effort to advance women’s economic security, USAID brings together governments, private sector companies, foundations, and civil society to expand access to employment, training, leadership roles, and financial resources in industries critical to combating climate change. As of September 2024, WISE has engaged 32 partners who together have committed $1.75 billion.
The President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience: Since 2021, PREPARE has been working to help more than half a billion people in developing countries adapt to and manage the impacts of climate change by 2030. Led by USAID and U.S. Department of State, PREPARE is being implemented by 20 federal agencies. The U.S. Government scaled its assistance to $2.3 billion to implement PREPARE in fiscal year 2022 and is partnering with more than 115 countries to address the climate-related threats that they face. PREPARE has mobilized over $3 billion in additional resources from 34 private companies investing in adaptation and resilience across 42 countries through the PREPARE Call to Action. This work is preserving hard-won development gains, safeguarding future sustainable development, and contributing to stability and economic growth. For more information on USAID’s progress towards this target, visit USAID’s Climate Strategy Data Hub.
