300 citizens ignite local climate action across West Africa

In The News 04 Feb 2025

In the face of escalating climate challenges, local communities hold immense potential to drive meaningful change. With their deep understanding of local environments, actors, opportunities, and barriers, they are uniquely positioned to create solutions that build resilience and adaptation. By leveraging local knowledge and innovation, these efforts unlock a powerful mix that can elevate climate action on the global stage. The CATAL1.5°T Climathon events are designed precisely to serve this purpose.

 

Last autumn, our flagship ideation events were hosted in eight West African countries – Guinea, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mauritania, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger – as part of the CATAL1.5°T initiative, which promotes investments in developing and emerging climate tech markets. Sharing a common goal of raising awareness of climate change, citizen engagement, and strengthening local ecosystems, these events brought together citizens, entrepreneurs, and experts to co-create practical solutions to pressing local climate challenges. Each city tackled unique issues, reflecting its specific environmental and socio-economic realities.

Climathon collectively attracted more than 1,000 applications and engaged a total of 331 participants in 2024, with an average gender distribution of 70 per cent men and 30 per cent women. This gender ratio may highlight a growing trend of women stepping forward to innovate around climate challenges, while also showing the need for continued efforts to foster inclusivity. Women, who are more likely to be negatively affected by climate impacts, bring invaluable perspectives and solutions to the table. Research has shown that as women advance in these fields, they often reinvest their success into their communities, amplifying the impact of their contributions.

A platform for targeted innovation

Powered by Climate-KIC, Climathon is structured as a two-day innovation sprint, where participants engage in workshops, team-building exercises, and intensive climate hackathons to ideate, prototype, and pitch solutions. With guidance from expert mentors and facilitators, the projects address a range of issues, from urban waste management to sustainable energy and biodiversity conservation. Over the course of the events, a total of 67 ideas were generated. To explore these solutions in more detail, visit the CATAL1.5°T Climathon ideas repository.

Want to join a Climathon in 2025? Pre-register here!

Ideas per category

Collaborative energy and concrete results

Across these cities, the atmosphere was a fusion of urgency, creativity, and purpose. In Conakry, organised by Jatropha Hub, the event began with an inspiring opening session where speakers highlighted the critical local challenges such as deforestation and waste management. Participants dove headfirst into ideation sessions, eventually presenting innovative solutions like converting organic waste into energy.

In Lomé, organised by Impact Hub Cotonou, the air buzzed with energy as attendees gathered to address the city’s staggering plastic waste problem. The workshops and team activities focused on turning waste into resources, with one team envisioning sachets repurposed as building materials. This tangible approach to “turning rubbish into gold” captured the imagination of participants and the jury alike.

Organisers Sira Labs and YikiLab Center offered a unique twist by holding the Ouagadougou Climathon at the lush Bangr Wéoogo Park, dubbed the “green lung” of the city. The event emphasised sustainable practices, such as using biodegradable materials and reusable badges, while encouraging a sense of shared responsibility. Participants brainstormed ways to mitigate the city’s challenges of drought and floods, with several standout solutions gaining interest for further development.

Dakar’s Climathon, organised by Ecolotrip, unfolded against the backdrop of the city’s urgent need for agricultural resilience. Farmers, entrepreneurs, and environmentalists teamed up to tackle water scarcity, producing creative irrigation solutions to reduce dependency on rainfall.

Each city brought its unique challenges and energy, such as Nouakchott’s Climathon coordinated by AE Tech Consulting, which focused on decentralised energy access; Abidjan’s efforts, led by Incub’Ivoir, tackled agricultural emissions and enhanced productivity; and Porto-Novo’s organised by Impact Hub Cotonou, explored biodiversity preservation. Meanwhile, in Niamey, POLE G collaborated with the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Environment to drive solutions for urban waste management and green infrastructure.

Winning ideas per city

As these ideas take shape and move toward implementation, the momentum generated by the Climathon events show how grassroots engagement can be a powerful driver of the global climate movement. By unlocking the potential of local innovators, CATAL1.5°T is turning community-based solutions into potential engines of global progress – proving that transformative change starts right where it’s needed most.

The year 2025 brings new challenges and opportunities, including another round of Climathons taking centre stage. Explore more about our local events on our webpage, and if you’re eager to join the 2025 events, pre-register here.

Pre-register 2025 climathon

The CATAL1.5°T Initiative accelerates the net-zero transition by supporting climate ventures and ecosystems across the Global South. Funded by the Green Climate Fund and BMZ, and implemented with Climate-KIC, GIZ,  Tecnologico de Monterrey and Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), it drives sustainable innovation and lasting impact.

 

*Video produced by Cloud9Media