Belém, Brazil – November 15th, at the UNFCCC Capacity-Building Hub during COP30, Development Reimagined (DR) and the China Renewable Energy Industry Association (CREIA) co-hosted the session “Enhancing South–South Cooperation: Capacity Building for a Just and Resilient Energy Transition”, with strategic support from the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO).
The dialogue convened experts from China, Africa, and international institutions to examine how South–South cooperation can strengthen institutional, financial, and technical capacity across the Global South.
The event opened with remarks from Ms. Li Dan, Secretary-General of CREIA, who underscored CREIA’s long-standing role in advancing renewable-energy capacity building. She reflected on CREIA’s origins under early 2000s UNDP and GEF-supported initiatives, which helped lay the foundation for China’s rapid renewable-energy expansion.
This was followed by a presentation from Ms. Lu Lisha, CREIA’s Director of International Cooperation, who shared insights from the September 2025 Capacity Building Programme on Renewable Energy and Industrial Technology Development. She highlighted key achievements and lessons learned, spanning renewable-energy investment, technology application, and cross-regional experience exchange among stakeholders from Africa, China, and Southeast Asia. Ms. Lu emphasized that capacity building must be treated as a systematic, long-term process, with needs varying by participant roles—whether for exchange, exploration, or optimisation—and by topics ranging from policy and business models to technical skills.
Moderating the roundtable, Ms. Wu Yunong, Climate Action Specialist at DR, presented DR’s latest findings that 19 African countries have already submitted their NDC 3.0—accounting for over 20% of global submissions. “Africa’s climate ambition is strong,” she noted, “but without the institutional capacity to design, implement, and align NDCs with development priorities, ambition risks becoming aspiration rather than action.”
From the African civil society perspective, Mr. Kassim Hussein, Executive Director of ACCSE and Ghana’s National ACE Focal Point, stressed that many African countries still face challenges in preparing technically sound and context-specific NDCs. “Countries need the capacity not only to commit, but to design and implement plans that reflect their development realities,” he said.
Mr. Kuda Manjonjo, Just Transition Advisor at Power Shift Africa, called for prioritised capacity building in infrastructure planning, particularly in relation to regional power interconnections. He highlighted the need for African stakeholders to “understand both what development pathways are possible and how to operationalize them,” especially for climate-resilient industrialization.
Offering a perspective from cross-border grid cooperation, Mr. Li Longfei, Head of Communication & Cooperation at GEIDCO’s Europe Office, noted that in many partner countries, limited technical literacy hampers early-stage collaboration. “Without a basic understanding of grid planning and technology, it is difficult to articulate needs or advance technical discussions,” he observed. Mr. Li explained how GEIDCO began collaborating with UN agencies and local development institutions to address these foundational capacity gaps.
In an era where multilateral processes are increasingly strained, one reality is becoming unmistakable: developing countries need stronger domestic capacity to design, plan, and deliver climate and energy transition strategies if national ambition is to translate into real-world impact. This roundtable made the message clear — sustained South–South exchange, shared learning, and long-term partnerships are essential to keeping climate action steady and practical amid global uncertainty.
As countries begin to deliver the outcomes of COP30 and move into the next cycle toward COP31, Development Reimagined, CREIA, and partners, including GEIDCO, reaffirm their commitment to advancing practical, demand-driven capacity-building efforts — supporting the Global South to pursue a just, resilient, and development-aligned energy transition on its own terms.
Date Published: December 4, 2025.
