The Model Climate Change Law is here! After months of intensive research and analysis of climate change legislation from across Africa and best practices across the world, the Model Climate Change Law Framework for Africa is complete. The purpose of the Model Climate Change law for Africa is to provide best legislative practices in climate change to African Parliaments to catalyse the making, revision and oversight of climate change laws in the African Continent
Why the MCCL?
Few African countries have enacted stand-alone climate change legislation. Many countries rely on climate change policies and long-term low emission strategies to coordinate their response to climate change and its adverse effects. Some countries have incorporated climate change legislation within their existing environmental legislations. This legislative gap, coupled with the limited capacity among Parliamentarians and Parliamentary Staff to legislate and provide technical support on climate change issues, compelled African legislators—during the regional parliamentary meetings—to request AGNES to develop a Model Climate Change Law Framework to guide their legislative role on climate change at their respective jurisdictions. The MCCL is a product of AGNES’ work programme which seeks to strengthen Parliaments.
Additionally, climate change legislations play key roles in advancing climate change response coordination and governance. First, it plays a role providing for the institutional frameworks mandated to coordinate response to climate change. Second, it provides financial mechanisms to support sustainable climate financing. Third, law guides the preparation of climate change policy documents such as:
- Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
- National Adaptation Plans (NAPs)
- Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategies (LT-LEDs)
- Sectoral climate change documents
- National Communications
- National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
- Biennial Transparency Documents as well as other national, sectoral and sub-national climate change reporting documents.
Cognizant of these roles played by climate change legislation, it is imperative that African Parliaments leverage on their legislative role to make climate change laws for the effective coordination and implementation of climate change responses. The Model Climate Change Law Framework for Africa is not binding, but merely a guiding framework for African parliamentarians to utilise and reference when proposing, debating, passing or reviewing climate change laws within their jurisdictions.
The journey towards the MCCL
The AGNES, in collaboration with AUDA-NEPAD, and the Governments of Liberia, Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Namibia, organised a series of regional parliamentary meetings in Monrovia, Brazzaville, Arusha and Windhoek bringing together parliamentarians, parliamentary staff and UNFCCC Focal Points from the respective regions. The objectives of these meetings were to sensitize parliamentarians and parliamentary staff on climate change issues while fostering cross-learning. Another objective of the meetings was to identify challenges parliamentarians face when performing their constitutional roles of representation, legislation and oversight.
Following the request from African parliamentarians, the AGNES initiated conversations with relevant stakeholders to fulfil this request. To kickstart, the AGNES organised a co-creation meeting bringing together parliamentarians, parliamentary staff, climate change experts and legal experts to co-develop the Model Climate Change Law’s outline. Upon the development of the salient elements of the MCCL (see below), the AGNES presented the elements before the Pan-African Parliament Permanent Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment—which highlighted the urgency of the MCCL. This was a clear demonstration of parliamentarians’ readiness to contribute to the fight against climate change and its adverse impacts.
Upon guidance from the PAP, the AGNES, through TrustLaw of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, commissioned the assistance of partner law firms to analyse and identify best practices in various climate change legislations. The African countries analysed include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Africa, Zambia, Mauritius, Benin, Rwanda, Gabon, Nigeria, and Egypt. References were also made to other countries such as Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe. Jurisdictions analysed outside Africa included the United States of America, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Germany, and China. Other countries referred to during the development of the MCCL include India and Indonesia.
The partner law firms identified the best practices and prepared a Best Practices Report, which informed the drafting of the Model Climate Change Law. To fact-check and ascertain identified best practices, the AGNES conducted subsequent follow-up meetings with the partner law firms to better understand the feasibility and challenges encountered in the implementation of the climate change laws. This feedback significantly improved the curation of the MCCL’s provisions. The AGNES, then proceeded to draft the Model Climate Change Law Framework in collaboration with some of its partners in the legislative drafting space and convened a validation meeting upon completion of the Law’s draft, in conjunction with the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS).
The validation meeting was held in January 2025 Abuja, Nigeria and brought together parliamentarians—including sponsors of climate change bills in Africa—parliamentary staff, legal professionals, and multilateral organisations working on climate change (UNFCCC, UNEP, UNDP). The objective of the validation meeting was to validate the MCCL and prepare it for consideration by the Africa Network of Parliamentarians on Climate Change (ANPCC). The ANPCC considered and adopted the Model Climate Change Law during its first Executive Committee/Bureau meeting in February 2025.
The Seven Salient Elements of the MCCL
The Model Climate Change Law highlights seven (7) salient elements for a robust climate change legislation, which include:
1. The Objects and Guiding Principles
The MCCL provides sample objects and guiding principles that may be adopted by African countries informing the purpose of the law as well as inform the interpretation, implementation and review of climate change laws and policies.
2. Policy, Coordination and Institutional Arrangements
The MCCL provides an institutional framework template responsible for the collaborative coordination of climate change responses.
3. National Climate Change Responses
The MCCL provides best practices in the preparation, procedures, content and approval of crucial climate change policy documents such as NAPs, NDCs, LT-LEDS and sectoral climate change strategies such as sectoral adaptation plans and sectoral emissions targets. Adaptation scenarios is a notable best practice entrenched in the MCCL informing the development of NAPs, sectoral adaptation plans and LT-LEDS.
4. Carbon Markets and Trading
The MCCL proposes best practices in the operationalisation of carbon trading schemes which include the participation of entities in the carbon trading schemes, application and approval of carbon projects, benefits sharing of carbon proceedings as well as cancellation and/or variation of authorisations in carbon trading. The MCCL further proposes the establishment of a Registry and a National GHG Inventory.
5. Climate Finance
The MCCL recommends practices to promote sustainable financing such as the establishment of a climate change fund, the management and criteria for selection of the Fund’s management organ, sustainable sources of climate financing and climate budget tagging to foster accountability of climate finance.
6. Enhanced Transparency Framework
This element of the MCCL provides for the preparation, approval and communication of climate-related reporting documents such as encouraging the preparation of National Communications, BTRs, National GHG Inventory Reports and sectoral reports. Additionally, the MCCL proposes the unfettered flow of information from entities to the Department, the knowledge hub institution which synthesizes and publishes information to the general public.
7. Public Participation
The MCCL proposes the entrenching of the principle of public participation and the right to access information through various channels such as the public engagement strategy and sub-national forums on climate change.
The Model Climate Change Framework for Africa is a comprehensive three-in-one document containing (1) the explanatory notes to the Model Climate Change Law, (2) The Model Climate Change Law, and (3) comparative analysis of the Model Climate Change Law to existing climate change legislations across Africa and the world.
Special gratitude to Partners
The AGNES wishes to thank the Africa Network of Parliamentarians on Climate Change (ANPCC) and the Pan-African Parliament Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment for their astute leadership and guidance in the drafting process, National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies . The AGNES further thanks the partner law firms that aided the identification of best practices across Africa and other jurisdictions including the Africa Law Partners, ALP-East Africa, Pinsent Masons, Afifi Law Office, Morrison Foerster, Mattos Filho and Hogan Lovells for their efforts and time.
Finally, we extend our sincere gratitude to the policymakers, experts, civil society actors, legal professionals, and private sector representatives whose contributions have been invaluable. We also acknowledge the support and collaboration of UNEP, the UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centre for West and Central Africa (RCC WACA), UNDP, The Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and the Open Society Foundation.
Call to Action for the African Continent
This is more than a document—it is a legislative blueprint, a product of African expertise, and a tool for real change. The African Group of Negotiators Experts Support invites all African Parliaments, policymakers, and partners to take full advantage of the MCCL—to strengthen their laws, align with best practices, and unlock coordinated, accountable climate action.