Yaoundé 4 wins “Policy Hack” ahead of Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco

The Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, held from 12 to 14 September 2018, was focused on bringing new ambitions to the next level in five key areas: healthy energy systems, inclusive economic growth, local communities, the protection of land and oceans and transformative climate investments.

This global event, which was a real opportunity for sharing experiences in supporting cities in climate action, registered the participation of several partners of the Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa – CoM SSA such as CEMR, PLATFORMA , C40,  GCOM et ICLEI WS.

The CoM SSA is an initiative funded by the European Union to support cities in Sub-Saharan Africa in their climate action and their efforts towards sustainable energy use.

On 10 September 2018 in San Francisco, ahead of the World Climate Summit, CoM SSA and its partners were invited to take part in a “Policy Hack” entitled Sustainability for innovation, organised by Start Up Europe comes to Silicon Valley (SEC2SV), during which participants were invited to challenge a project related to current climate challenges.

It was the 8th edition of SEC2SV. There were four participants: Yaoundé 4, a CoMSSA pilot city, challenging the cities of Seville in Spain, Cluj-Napoca in Romania and the region of Emilia Romagna in Italy.

CEMR presented the project of the city of Yaoundé 4: the construction of biogas plants to produce renewable energy at local level whilst setting up a decentralised energy supply system. A group of stakeholders met during the “Policy Hack” session to suggest a solution to Yaoundé 4’s challenge, as illustrated below by the participants:

Competing against other cities presenting issues related to energy efficiency and urban mobility, it was Yaoundé 4’s solution which persuaded the jury of experts composed of political players and engineers. Yaoundé 4 therefore won the 3rd edition of this “Policy Hack” in San Francisco.