CDKN – with the African Climate and Development Initiative, SouthSouthNorth and ODI – has launched a new series of factsheets that distil data, trends and analysis from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report most relevant to Africa’s five subregions: Central Africa, East Africa, North Africa, southern Africa and West Africa. This in response to demand expressed by our partners in Africa for more country and sub-regional information.

This fourth published factsheet focuses on North Africa and highlights:

1. How North Africa’s climate is already changing
2. North Africa’s future climate 
3. Climate change impacts we have already seen in North Africa
4. Future climate risks in North Africa 
5. North Africa’s potential to adapt
6. Key investment areas for a climate-resilient North Africa

This factsheet will be translated into Arabic in the coming months.

What is the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report? 

At the end of February 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its latest report on climate change impacts, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, as part of Working Group II’s contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report. This follows the release of the Working Group I report on The Physical Science Basis in 2021.

The Working Group II report details the widespread and severe losses and damages climate change is already causing to people, nature and economies worldwide. It also shares how successful our current adaptation actions are, reviews the limits beyond which adaptation will no longer be effective, and investigates how to move towards climate-resilient development.

The IPCC report also provides the strongest-ever assessment of evidence on how climate change is impacting the African continent. As a region highly vulnerable to climate change, this detailed information of climate change risks and adaptation options is urgently needed to inform planning and implementation in Africa.

Our approach

This factsheet has been through a comprehensive review process. The team, comprising CDKN researchers and communicators, as well as IPCC Coordinating Lead Authors and Lead Authors of the Africa Chapter, has extracted the North Africa-specific information directly and solely from the Sixth Assessment Report – predominantly drawing from the Africa chapter (chapter 9). However, since this factsheet has not been through the official IPCC review process, it has not been endorsed by the IPCC.

The writing team includes:

Authors: Dr Christopher Trisos (ACDI and IPCC Coordinating Lead Author), Dr Edmond Totin (University of Benin and IPCC Coordinating Lead Author), Prof Ibidun Adelekan (University of Ibadan and IPCC Coordinating Lead Author), Dr Chris Lennard (Climate Systems Analysis Group and IPCC Lead Author), Dr Nicholas Simpson (ACDI and IPCC Lead Author), and Prof Mark New (ACDI and IPCC Coordinating Lead Author). 

Compilers: Lisa McNamara (CDKN/SSN) and Mairi Dupar (CDKN/ODI).

Download the North Africa factsheet here.