The two-day forum, running from August 12 to 13, 2026, is convened by Jacob’s Ladder Africa (JLA) in partnership with the African Union Commission Department of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Kenya’s Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, FSD Africa, GIZ Kenya, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and the Center for Global Development.
The forum is taking a practical approach to Africa’s green jobs challenge. Its organisers say the continent does not need to start by imagining what a green economy could look like.
Instead, the focus is on examining what is already working, understanding why it works and determining what can be adapted and scaled.
The discussions are being guided by African case studies. Participants are examining the conditions behind successful initiatives, barriers to replication and areas where approaches may need to be redesigned rather than simply copied.
The forum is organised around four areas of the emerging green economy.
These are renewable energy and productive use of energy; climate-resilient agriculture and smart food systems; e-mobility, green infrastructure and urbanisation; and circularity and waste systems.
The four areas are being examined through interconnected enabling systems covering finance, technology, innovation and markets; social systems; and policy, regulation and governance.
Speaking during the opening, Jacob’s Ladder Africa Co-Founder and CEO Sellah Bogonko said the forum was intended to build sustained collaboration around Africa’s green economic transition.
“Our ambition is to begin building something larger than a two-day gathering: an Africa-wide coalition of governments, employers, investors, skills institutions, innovators, intermediaries and young people committed to figuring out, together, how Africa can create green jobs at scale,” Bogonko said.
She added that the forum was intended to be different from conventional conferences.
“This is not a summit, conference or another forum. It is a Thinkers Hub and Collaboration Hive designed to leave people more informed, challenged and inspired and, more importantly, better equipped to act,” she said.
Among those participating in the opening were Dr Rose Mwebaza, Director and Regional Representative for Africa at the United Nations Environment Programme; Kevin Munjal, Director of Impact Development at FSD Africa; Hannah Salian, GIZ Kenya Programme Director for Energy, Transport and Climate Change; and Nicholas Ouma, representing African Union Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Prof Gaspard Banyankimbona.
African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment H.E. Moses Vilakati delivered a keynote address by video.
The opening discussions focused on the need for stronger coordination between governments, employers, investors, education and training institutions and young people.
The discussions come against the backdrop of a major employment challenge on the continent.
The African Development Bank estimates that between 10 million and 12 million young people enter Africa’s labour force every year, while only about three million formal jobs are created annually. The figures have also been cited in recent African Development Bank material on the continent’s employment challenge.
The forum argues that the employment dimension of the green transition should therefore be central to Africa’s economic transformation.
The issue is not only how much green investment the continent can attract. It is also whether such investment can generate enterprises, occupations, skills and productive opportunities that African workers and businesses can access.
Research commissioned by FSD Africa, the Shell Foundation and Shortlist and produced by Genesis Analytics estimates that Africa’s green transition could generate between 3.8 million and 7.9 million jobs by 2030.
The number could rise to between 65.9 million and 84.5 million by 2050, depending on technology adoption and climate-risk scenarios.
The study, titled Unlocking Africa’s Green Transition: Opportunities Towards a Green and Inclusive Workforce, says employment growth is expected to be significantly influenced by decentralised and service-led activities.
These include clean cooking, solar home systems, waste recycling and electric two- and three-wheelers.
The research also examines who is positioned to benefit from the emerging opportunities, including young people, women, informal workers and low-income workers.
The forum is highlighting the need to connect investment with workforce development, skills with labour-market demand, and green enterprises with access to finance and markets.
Another resource being advanced through GreenWorks 4 Africa is the African Green Jobs Toolkit.
The toolkit brings together lessons and practices from across the continent, including investment-ready models and relevant financing approaches.
It places five questions at the centre of green jobs programme design: where are the green jobs, who can access them, what skills are needed, what financing is required and how will progress be tracked?
The toolkit also calls for youth employment and women’s inclusion to be considered in programme design, financing, procurement and governance.
It recognises the role of informal workers in African economies and highlights the need to strengthen links between education and training systems and actual labour-market demand.
Among the approaches highlighted are modular certification, apprenticeships, work-based learning and stronger engagement with employers.
The forum is also presenting the African Green Jobs Taxonomical Standard for Africa, which is aligned with the African Continental Qualifications Framework.
The standard is intended to promote consistency in how green jobs, occupations and skills are understood across countries and institutions. It is also aimed at supporting greater alignment between workforce development and the emerging green economy.
FSD Africa presented findings from its new green workforce research at the forum.
The study says Africa’s green transition will differ from infrastructure-led models seen in many high-income economies. Instead, decentralised and service-led activities are expected to account for a significant share of employment growth.
The study also looks at the implications of the transition for different categories of workers and the factors that could determine their access to emerging opportunities.
FSD Africa Director of Development Impact Kevin Munjal said young Africans should have a meaningful role in the continent’s green transformation.
“For Africa’s young people, the green transition is not an abstract future. It will shape the jobs they can access, the businesses they can build and the economies in which they will live,” Munjal said.
“Our responsibility is to ensure that the systems being built today give them a meaningful stake in that transformation,” he added.
The forum's central argument is that Africa's green jobs challenge cannot be addressed through skills programmes, climate finance, enterprise support or policy reform in isolation.
Instead, the systems supporting these interventions must work together.
This includes ensuring that enterprises can access capital and markets, workers can acquire relevant skills, education and training respond to employer demand, regulation enables emerging industries, and institutions coordinate effectively around new economic opportunities.
GreenWorks 4 Africa continues in Nairobi on Thursday, August 13.
The organisation says the forum is built around evidence and case studies from across Africa, with a focus on understanding what is working, why it is working and what can be replicated, adapted and scaled.
Jacob’s Ladder Africa is a Pan-African non-governmental organisation that works on youth-led green enterprise growth as a pathway to inclusive and climate-resilient economic transformation.
It supports the development and scaling of enterprises that create employment, deliver climate solutions and strengthen economic resilience.
The organisation says it works with governments, investors and local ecosystems to help young entrepreneurs translate skills and innovation into viable businesses and sustainable livelihoods across countries and sectors.
Its approach emphasises market access, enterprise financing and institutional alignment to support the implementation and scaling of green economic solutions.
