Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR has joined the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action ( CFMCA ) as an institutional partner. This collaboration reflects the vision of UNICLI to enhance the capabilities of public institutions to implement national and global commitments through targeted learning, advisory services, institutional strengthening and inter-institutional coordination. The partnership builds on the Institute’s extensive experience in helping ministries of finance, economy and planning strengthen their capacity for climate action and economic transformation.
Launched in 2019, the CFMCA brings together finance and economic policymakers from more than 100 countries. Its members have signed up to the Helsinki Principles , which promote national climate action, particularly through fiscal policy and public finance. Through the Partnership for Action on Green Economy ( PAGE ), UNITAR already contributes to activities linked to the Coalition. In February 2026, it helped Makerere University and Uganda’s Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development organize the first African Symposium on Climate-Sensitive Macroeconomics in Kampala, back-to-back with the CFMCA Deputies Meeting. The event drew more than 300 participants from across Africa and highlighted how universities, research centres and training institutions can help close capacity gaps and produce context-specific analysis.
The Symposium also kick-started an Africa Knowledge and Learning Community on Climate-Sensitive Macroeconomics, intended to serve as the technical backbone of the Pan-African Finance Ministers Forum for Climate Action (PAFCA). At PAFCA’s request, UNITAR is also working with Makerere University and the LSE Grantham Research Institute to support national pilots of the CFMCA Capability Assessment Framework (CAF) in Uganda, Zambia, Sierra Leone and the Republic of Congo. The pilots run alongside a regional survey of capacity gaps and priorities among African ministries of finance. Other regions have expressed interest in running their own pilots.
As a partner, UNITAR will be able to align its programmes more directly with the CFMCA’s priorities. The goal is to help countries move from making the economic case for climate action to acting on it.