Climate Action Plan

Climate change has emerged as one of the defining challenges of our time, and nowhere is its impact felt more acutely than across the communities that Africa’s savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) serve. Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, erratic rainfall, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events are placing growing pressure on the livelihoods of millions of cooperative members, many of whom depend on agriculture and natural resources for their income.

It is against this backdrop that the African Confederation of Cooperative Savings and Credit Associations (ACCOSCA) and Développement international Desjardins (DID) of Canada came together to conceive the African Co-operative Climate Action Plan, a partnership grounded in the shared belief that the cooperative movement has a distinct and valuable role to play in building climate resilience across the continent.

The idea for the Plan grew out of ACCOSCA’s recognition that climate change had become one of the most pressing challenges facing SACCOs, threatening not only the environment but also the financial stability and long-term sustainability of member institutions and the communities they serve.

Rather than treating climate action as a peripheral concern, ACCOSCA determined that it should be embedded directly into the cooperative movement’s governance, business practices, and member training. To support this vision, ACCOSCA partnered with DID, its long-standing strategic partner in Canada, to help build a framework fit for the African context.

At its core, the African Co-operative Climate Action Plan calls for urgent, coordinated action by cooperatives across Africa in three interconnected areas:

• Strengthening environmental conservation and preservation
• Enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of member countries in the face of climate change
• Accelerating the shift toward a circular, eco-friendly economy

The Plan is structured around three strategic pillars that provide ACCOSCA and its members with a practical and adaptable structure for translating global climate commitments into action at the cooperative level:

• Governance
• Green Knowledge and Empowerment
• Climate Finance

By anchoring its work in Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action), and in the broader Sustainable Development Goals agenda, ACCOSCA has positioned the cooperative movement as an active contributor to Africa’s climate response rather than a passive observer.

This reflects a broader conviction that cooperatives, by virtue of their community roots and member-owned structure, are uniquely placed to translate climate adaptation and mitigation into tangible economic and social resilience for both present and future generations.

Since its launch, the Plan has begun to shape how ACCOSCA and its member states approach climate action in practice. It has provided a shared point of reference for integrating climate protection measures into ACCOSCA’s own policies, business practices, and training programs.

The Plan continues to guide member associations toward greater environmental preservation, stronger resilience and adaptation planning, and a more deliberate transition toward green and circular economic models.

As climate-related challenges continue to affect communities across Africa, the African Co-operative Climate Action Plan provides a framework for coordinated action within the cooperative sector. Through its focus on governance, green knowledge and empowerment, and climate finance, the Plan continues to support ACCOSCA and its members in advancing environmental preservation, strengthening resilience, and promoting sustainable economic development.