| View web version |  |
|
 |
 |
|
|
NEWSLETTER: CLIMATE HUB EDITION |
||
|
AI4D Research & Innovation for Climate Hub |
||
|
Dear Welcome to the Local Development Research Institute’s AI4D Climate Hub edition of our newsletter. You’re receiving this inaugural edition because you are subscribed to our newsletter or recently engaged with us through one of our activities. Please let us know if you would like to continue receiving future editions. With each edition, we highlight updates from the Hub, insights from our research, and opportunities to collaborate as we strengthen the ecosystem needed to move climate AI innovations from pilot to lasting impact. We are glad you’re part of this journey and look forward to building this ecosystem together. |
||
|
A Message From The Team Lead.
Building The AI4D Climate Hub Ecosystem TogetherIn our October 2025 newsletter, we shared an important milestone: the Local Development Research Institute (LDRI) was awarded a grant to establish the AI4D Research and Innovation for Climate Hub (AI4D Climate Hub). Developed in partnership with Africlimate AI and funded by Canada’s IDRC and the UK’s FCDO, the Hub represents a significant step in strengthening Africa’s climate AI ecosystem. We are revisiting this milestone not simply as an update, but as an invitation to you, as a valued member of the community we are building and investing in, to help shape the future of climate AI in Africa. As we know, Africa continues to generate bold, high-potential climate AI innovations. However, many of these solutions struggle to move beyond the pilot phase due to limited infrastructure, fragmented partnerships, and insufficient long-term support. The AI4D Climate Hub is designed to help close that gap by building the connective infrastructure that enables responsible AI solutions to scale and deliver lasting impact for resilient communities. The three priority areas guiding the Hub’s work include; 1. Support for climate AI innovations with high scaling potential:
Over the next three years, we'll provide hands-on support to a carefully selected cohort by pairing teams with funding, coaching, research, data access, governments and pathways for entry into new markets. Our first innovation, ImvulaNet by AfriClimate AI, is already underway: a citizen science-driven seasonal forecasting system co-developed with smallholder farmers in South Africa.
2. Building the evidence base for responsible scaling of Climate AI solutions:
We're building a rigorous evidence base on what inclusive and responsible Climate AI innovation looks like in African contexts. But we are also tackling the harder questions such as:
We want our research to inform decisions both by the innovations we support but also by the wider climate and AI communities and stakeholders. 3. An enabling policy environment. Promising innovations may still die when they hit the regulatory barriers or, in some instances, cannot be adopted at national or regional levels. The Hub will work alongside policymakers to build the frameworks that support scaling of responsible climate AI solutions, be it across borders, into national programs, and into the hands of communities that need them. As we build the Hub, we are designing it to serve as an observatory for the broader climate AI ecosystem. We know the most promising innovations, events, and opportunities will not surface through us alone, and we invite you to share the work and conversations that deserve greater visibility and support. In the months ahead, we will onboard our first cohort of innovators and announce a research partner to anchor the Hub’s climate science agenda. We also welcome partners interested in co-investing in and supporting this cohort through funding, technical expertise, or strategic collaboration. We look forward to engaging many of you in person later this year as we convene at global events and host our own community gatherings. We hope you will join us as we shape this ecosystem together.
All the best! Leonida Mutuku Lead, AI4D Climate Innovation Hub |
||
|
Hub's Corner
The Collapse Of Koko Networks: Lessons For Climate Innovation And Regulatory Reforms In Africa.The closure of Koko Networks in January 2026 marks a significant setback for climate innovation in Africa. Having served 1.3 million Kenyan households with affordable bioethanol cooking fuel, the company represented a genuine attempt to address the intertwined challenges of deforestation, household air pollution, and energy access. Its failure warrants careful examination—not merely as a corporate casualty, but as a case study in the structural vulnerabilities facing climate-focused enterprises across the continent. Koko's business model was predicated on using carbon credit revenues to subsidise clean fuel for low-income households. Stoves were sold at 80% below market price, and fuel at 50% below cost, with the gap financed through credits generated under Gold Standard methodologies. The company secured over US$300 million in investment, including a pioneering political risk insurance policy from the World Bank's MIGA covering US$179.6 million. However, the regulatory approval required to transfer these credits internationally under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement - a Letter of Authorisation from the Kenyan government—was never issued. Without access to carbon markets, the subsidy model became unsustainable, and operations ceased. This outcome raises fundamental questions about the interplay between sovereign discretion and investment certainty in emerging carbon markets. |
||
Opportunities From Our Network |
||
|
Call For Proposals 1. Deep Learning Indaba 2026 Call For Proposals Deep Learning Indaba 2026 – Call for Workshops and Sessions- Deadline 11th March,2026 Deep Learning Indaba 2026- Call For African Data Sets Submission - Deadline 20th March,2026 Deep Learning Indaba 2026- Call For Paper -Deadline 20th April,2026 Funding Opportunity 1. Philanthropic Partnership Backs Country-Led Research to Guide the Use of AI in Health. The Gates Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Wellcome today announced a joint investment of US$60 million to support locally led evaluations of AI health tools in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Evidence for AI in Health (EVAH) initiative will help governments and health systems determine which tools work, where they add value, and how they can be used responsibly. Announced during the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, EVAH is designed to address a critical gap in evidence on how AI performs in real-world health settings in LMICs. The first request for proposals (RFP) is now open. Read More. 2. The GSMA Innovation Fund for Green Transition for Mobile. The GSMA InnovationFund for Green Transition for Mobile is now accepting applications from enterprises delivering: |
||
Editor's Pick |
||
|
Blog
Introducing Ideas from the Palaver Tree: The Necessity of African Pedagogies on Artificial Intelligence Digital technologies, particularly those as pervasive as artificial intelligence (AI), raise critical questions about how such innovations are studied and who participates in their meaning and knowledge making. The very conception of AI and its advancement as a frontier technology is rooted in perceptions of ‘intelligence’ as expertise that can be economised and efforts to wield knowledge politics for the purposes of empire-building. This colonial legacy has subjected Africans to an extractivist, hegemonic global knowledge economy. To ensure that neo-colonialism is not further embedded into the material-to-digital continuum, we must create spaces where AI is defined and challenged by African perspectives. Decades of confinement to border camps, a small number of Burmese refugees are now working legally in Thailand. The Aid Report examines how U.S. aid cuts helped trigger the policy shift — and whether labor can supplement aid without exposing refugees to greater risk.
|
||
|
Recieved this as an email forward? Subcribe here and receieve future editions in your inbox. |
||
|
|
||
