Abt Global to Lead Localized Climate Support to Countries Through USAID’s Flagship CACCI Program

Rockville, Md.  – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has issued an award to an Abt-led team to help nations meet the climate commitments they made under the Paris Agreement. USAID’s $49 million five-year Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative (CACCI) is the agency’s global flagship program to create actionable programs and policies to mitigate and adapt to climate change. CACCI is designed to support nations in their implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) through technical and analytical support, capacity development, and inclusive and evidence-based policy dialogue.

The climate crisis is the greatest challenge of our time, disproportionately impacting women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, and other marginalized groups. To turn the tide, governments must take decisive action to establish—and implement—ambitious, successful climate policies. CACCI will critically contribute to USAID's Climate Strategy by helping countries implement their NDCs and NAPs, while ensuring inclusion and local ownership of solutions and their benefits. These efforts will further support USAID’s target for aligning development and humanitarian assistance programs with NDCs, NAPs, and partner country climate policy priorities in at least 80 countries by 2030.

Abt Global will lead a team—comprised of Abt, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Purdue Applied Research Institute, and World Resources Institute (WRI)—to develop and implement tailored, bold climate policies in partnership with CACCI target countries. The predecessor program, originally launched at COP26, has supported 23 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to date, with plans to further expand under this follow-on program.

Solutions Built on Localization and Equity

To achieve CACCI’s objectives, the team is building local partnerships to create evidence-based policy agendas and implementation pathways to help countries meet their targets:

• Building on and developing tailorable tools and approaches for climate policy development and implementation, applying them in partnership with national governments while leveraging our existing in-country networks and cross-ministerial relationships to provide on-demand policy support.
• Identifying—and supporting—local service providers to deliver capacity strengthening and facilitation services, thereby helping countries achieve long-term progress on policy goals in a sustainable manner.
• Co-identifying needs and co-developing activities with civil society actors—especially from marginalized communities—to support the development of responsive climate policies that avoid or address unintended negative consequences.
• Working through existing policy platforms and making them more inclusive by ensuring the engagement of ministries, sub-national government actors, civil society, the private sector, and groups representing marginalized, vulnerable, and Indigenous communities.
• Enabling private sector participation in climate policy formulation, implementation, financing, and results.

“Abt has spent decades working with municipalities to develop localized policy solutions, including in response to the climate crisis,” said Jenn Cisse, Abt’s Director for Climate Adaptation and Resilience. “Collectively—with IISD, Purdue, and WRI—this team has almost 100 years of experience supporting policy reforms and connecting stakeholders working on climate policy and action in more than 150 countries. We’re thrilled to harness this team’s know-how with that of our partner countries. We applaud USAID for their vision because activities of this scale are essential to ensuring global progress on climate adaptation and mitigation.”

CACCI reflects Abt’s commitment to addressing the climate crisis. For example, as the technical lead for USAID’s CEADIR—which operated in 33 countries—we helped leverage public and private sector funding by supporting climate financing readiness and strengthening local capacity to plan, implement, and monitor projects. Among the Environmental Protection Agency projects Abt supports is the Global Methane Initiative, which reduces emissions from short-lived but intensely potent methane pollutants in the solid waste and agriculture sectors across 10 countries and 70 cities.

“Abt supports people to move from vulnerability to security around the globe, and we understand that we can’t do that without addressing the climate crisis,” said Eric Reading, Abt’s Chief Climate Officer. “CACCI is a critical way for us to fulfill that goal, and we look forward to moving the needle with our long-time partners, USAID, and this great team we’ve assembled.”

Learn more about Abt’s work in climate change.

About Abt Global
Abt Global is a global consulting and research firm that combines data and bold thinking to improve the quality of people's lives. We partner with clients and communities to advance equity and innovation—from creating scalable digital solutions and combatting infectious disease, to mitigating climate change and evaluating programs for measurable social impact. https://www.abtglobal.com

Contact:
Eric Tischler
eric_tischler@abtassoc.com
(301) 347-5492