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The document highlights that over three billion people rely on traditional solid fuels, causing significant indoor air pollution and contributing to 1.6 million annual deaths. It notes that black carbon from these fuels accounts for 18% of global GHG emissions. The brief advocates for 'source' interventions, such as LPG, ethanol, and improved stoves, and emphasizes the need for consumer choice analysis to ensure technology adoption, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Ethiopia's Long-Term Low Emission and Climate Resilient Development Strategy (2020-2050) establishes a pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050. The strategy analyzes four scenarios: Business-as-Usual (BAU), NDC-aligned, Maximum Ambition, and Late Action. It prioritizes decarbonization in energy, transport, agriculture, forestry, waste, and industrial processes (IPPU). Key pillars include expanding renewable energy, electrifying transport, enhancing carbon sinks through reforestation, and modernizing agriculture. The document emphasizes a 'just transition' through a Women and Youth in Green Jobs Program and identifies a significant financing gap, estimating a total investment requirement of USD 154 billion for the NDC-aligned scenario.

The analysis identifies 105 cities with populations over one million across 34 Global South countries where electrification is currently a viable low-carbon strategy. Suitability is determined by a minimum 90 percent urban electricity access rate and a carbon intensity of electricity supply below 600 tCO2e/GWh. While all South American cities meet these criteria, suitability is significantly lower in sub-Saharan Africa (3 out of 40 cities) and South and East Asia (26 out of 202 cities).

The African Cities Water Adaptation Fund (ACWA Fund) aims to leverage $5 billion by 2032 to implement urban water resilience projects in 100 African cities. The fund employs a blended finance model—combining grants, concessional loans, equity, and debt—to support the full project lifecycle, from risk-based city water plans to the creation of standardized toolkits for scalable solutions. It focuses on an 'investment menu' of low-cost, replicable solutions such as nature-based solutions for flood and wastewater management, rainwater harvesting, and on-site sanitation.

The ACWA Platform is a pan-African coalition led by WRI and various partners to address projected tripling of water demand and extreme climate risks in African cities by 2050. It operates alongside the ACWA Fund, a blended finance instrument providing grants and investments to transform strategic plans into investment-ready projects. The platform focuses on nine strategic priorities, including prioritizing vulnerable communities and leveraging emerging technology, with a goal to increase water resilience in 100 city-regions by 2032.

The WRI Water Program in Ethiopia focuses on three strategic areas: analyzing water risk through modeling and mapping, promoting healthy watersheds via nature-based solutions, and enhancing urban water resilience in cities like Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. The program collaborates with Ethiopian government entities, including the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, to integrate water and climate constraints into national development planning and to protect ecosystems that secure long-term water supplies.

WRI's 2026–2032 strategy for Ethiopia focuses on three interconnected systems—cities, energy, and food, land, and water—to drive a low-carbon transition. The plan targets specific river basins and cities to implement nature-based solutions, expand renewable energy access, and promote regenerative agriculture, supported by improvements in national governance and finance.