Here’s the grid-first, water-secure, blended-finance agenda that could actually deploy.
The UNFCCC rebuilt its regional model this year into “Climate Weeks—Dialogues for Ambition and Implementation.” That’s not just branding. In Addis Ababa, Sept 1–6, Africa’s edition begins a two-week corridor (followed by Africa Climate Summit 2, Sept 8–10) where ministers, cities, utilities and financiers have to agree on what gets built now. Venue and dates, confirmed: Addis International Convention Center (AICC), Sept 1–6, 2025.
The three decisions that matter this week
1) Grids before gigs.
You can’t add renewable gigawatts without wires. Expect permitting on transmission, advanced conductors, and dynamic line rating to dominate, alongside DER orchestration that shaves peaks while interconnection queues unwind. (UNFCCC’s Addis schedule hub sets the frame.)
2) Water + heat as financeable infrastructure.
Cities want non-revenue water fixes, modular reuse, and district cooling—projects that lower bills and mortality while unlocking private capital. The credible decks bundle MRV, tariff pathways, and parametric insurance to turn avoided losses into bankable cash flows.
3) Blended finance leaves the PDF.
Concessional first-loss + commercial tranches are moving from panel talk to term sheets—particularly for distribution upgrades and resilience retrofits. If your plan doesn’t show the cash cascade from meter to bond coupon, it’s not ready.
What to watch on the ground (today through Saturday)
- Tender language. Do new procurement docs pay for performance (loss reduction, degrees cooled) rather than equipment?
- Local content. Hardware is great; maintenance wins. Who’s training operators?
- Utility billing integration. If savings don’t show up on bills, the pilot dies.
Where/when to follow: UNFCCC’s participant brief and live Addis schedule will update session times and webcasts across the week.
