‘Africa is not going to be outlined by what it lacks, however by the options it gives. The continent is not going to anticipate others to behave. It’ll push ahead its local weather agenda with ambition, urgency, coherence and resolve, whereas demanding that others meet their respective duties and obligations beneath worldwide local weather agreements’.
This was the resounding message from two consequential local weather conclaves held beneath the banner of the Africa Local weather Summit in recent times: the primary hosted by Kenya in 2023, and the second by Ethiopia in September 2025.
That is additionally Africa’s message to the upcoming UN world convention on local weather change in Belém, Brazil, in November. It’s a sign of Africa’s willpower to be a local weather options supplier and funding vacation spot, and to boldly declare its rightful place within the world local weather economic system.
The continent has resolved to construct fashionable, inexperienced, and inclusive industrial economies by harnessing its huge pure sources endowment and fostering worldwide partnerships and solidarity to safe jobs, alternative and dignity for its folks.
Africa is charging forward on this journey with steadfast management and focus. The continent is likely one of the most formidable and devoted actors within the Paris Local weather Settlement. All African international locations have signed the Settlement, and Africa has among the boldest Nationally Decided Contributions (NDCs) or nationwide local weather insurance policies and methods.
Ethiopia, for instance, turned the primary nation on the planet to ban imports of inner combustion engine autos in 2023. Its Inexperienced Legacy Initiative on reforestation and local weather resilience, launched in 2019, has now planted over 40 billion bushes. The nation had a strong Local weather Resilient and Inexperienced Economic system Technique nicely earlier than the Paris Local weather Settlement was established in 2015.
In the meantime, neighbouring Kenya, regardless of accounting for less than 0.16% of world GHG emissions, has an formidable third-generation NDC (NDC 3.0) that seeks to scale back emissions by 35% and construct a resilient inexperienced economic system by 2035. The nation already generates 90% of its electrical energy from renewable vitality sources and commits to reaching 100% by 2035 by its NDC 3.0.
Many efforts like these abound throughout Africa. They embrace large-scale renewable vitality initiatives; intensive forest panorama restoration initiatives; domestically led adaptation efforts; and progressive local weather finance approaches.
During the last decade, for instance, a number of African governments, companies and improvement finance establishments have piloted a spread of inexperienced finance devices, together with inexperienced bonds, blue bonds and debt-for-climate and debt-for-nature swaps. By 2023, greater than two dozen inexperienced bonds had been issued in Africa, together with in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Seychelles, Tanzania, Rwanda, Gabon, Mozambique, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia and Zambia.
Mutually reinforcing actions
For Africa, local weather motion, development and improvement will not be separate; they’re mutually reinforcing and have to be superior collectively. Dealing with among the most extreme attrition of local weather change, and regardless of contributing lower than 4% to world greenhouse gasoline emissions, Africa understands higher than most that in a world more and more formed by local weather and environmental shocks, resilience isn’t a alternative, and local weather motion can wait not.
Local weather change amplifies pre-existing social, financial and political challenges, which in flip constrain the flexibility of states and communities to mitigate or adapt. Investing in local weather motion is subsequently a precondition for sustained financial progress. Delaying motion will solely enlarge the prices of inaction, together with a lot steeper social and financial prices sooner or later.
This isn’t theoretical. On common, local weather change already prices Africa as much as 5% of GDP yearly, with extra susceptible international locations compelled to divert as much as 9% of nationwide budgets to handle climate-induced damages. These are losses not solely of wealth, however of stability, sovereignty and future alternative.
Africa understands that resilience can rework vulnerability into viability. Funding in adaptation and resilience delivers persistently excessive returns, with each greenback yielding an estimated $10–14 in prevented losses and broader financial and social advantages.
Past mitigating loss, resilience additionally protects pure capital, safeguards provide chains and stabilizes economies. Formidable and well timed local weather motion by each nation isn’t just very important to assembly world local weather objectives; it’s foundational to inclusive world improvement, resilience and long-term prosperity.
Within the struggle towards local weather change, Africa doesn’t lack ambition, readability of goal, management or innovation. What Africa lacks is commensurate management, partnership and solidarity on the a part of superior economies.
This structural imbalance handicaps the continent’s struggle towards local weather change – and it should change. For instance with one instance: local weather finance stays the one most vital constraint to the profitable supply of Africa’s daring imaginative and prescient for climate-positive improvement.
Africa faces a $160bn adaptation finance hole yearly. The continent wants the industrialized international locations to ship on their local weather finance commitments beneath the Paris Settlement, the place such finance is an obligation, not charity. And aptly so, for as aforementioned, investing in local weather motion isn’t just obligatory to attain local weather targets however can also be key to sustaining financial progress.
Africa leads, however others should act too
Africa isn’t going to COP30 in Belem empty-handed, nor with a begging bowl. Along with its extremely formidable NDCs, the continent is already shifting ahead with different formidable homegrown local weather options as outlined within the Addis Ababa Local weather Leaders’ Declaration. These embrace the Africa Local weather Innovation Compact, which seeks to ship 1,000 homegrown local weather options by 2030 by mobilising $50bn yearly in catalytic finance for resilient options in renewable vitality, water, agriculture and transport.
This additionally features a $100bn Inexperienced Industrialization Initiative, backed by a consortium of African monetary establishments together with the AfDB and AFC, to assist rework Africa right into a climate-smart development engine. Moreover, the continent is positioning itself to leverage its huge pure sources endowment, together with vital minerals and nature-based options, to advance its local weather and improvement agenda.
Because the world meets in Brazil, Africa’s calls for of the convention are grounded in its imaginative and prescient of climate-positive improvement.
First, COP30 should elevate and prioritise adaptation and fast-track implementation of all pre-agreed commitments, together with the total operationalisation of the Loss and Harm Fund and finalisation of a International Aim on Adaptation by 2026. Resilience have to be framed as a fiscal asset and a productive funding in development.
The standard and amount of adaptation finance have to be considerably enhanced based mostly on measurable wants and the detrimental impacts of local weather change. By integrating the long-term financial advantages of resilience into macroeconomic fundamentals, the world cannot solely scale back the fiscal pressures that many international locations face but additionally unlock the capital, each private and non-private, wanted to construct sustainable and inclusive economies.
Second, the worldwide monetary structure have to be reformed to align with world local weather objectives; to decrease the price of capital; to assist facilitate mobilisation of the capital obligatory for each improvement and local weather motion by crowding in and de-risking non-public capital; and to reinforce resilience to local weather shocks.
We reiterate the decision of the Nairobi African Local weather Leaders’ Declaration for the adoption of ideas of accountable sovereign lending and accountability encompassing credit standing, danger evaluation and debt sustainability evaluation frameworks.
For multilateral improvement banks (MDBs) and different improvement finance establishments (DFIs), this implies aligning their portfolios with country-specific nationwide local weather targets and exploring progressive devices – particularly these geared toward lowering the predominant use of non-grant devices – alongside different measures geared toward reducing the price of capital to scale back the chance of a vicious climate-debt cycle.
MDBs and DFIs ought to deploy a variety of local weather finance devices to extra successfully reply to particular person nation wants. Particularly, as an alternative of costly debt devices, MDBs ought to discover higher use of concessional grants and different devices reminiscent of debt-for-climate or debt-for-nature swaps, resilience bonds, and the rechannelling of present SDRs (Particular Drawing Rights) into local weather finance or issuing new climate-focused SDRs.
For world leaders, we reiterate the Nairobi African Local weather Leaders’ Declaration proposal for a worldwide carbon taxation regime, together with a carbon tax on fossil gasoline commerce, maritime transport, and aviation, along with a worldwide monetary transaction tax (FTT) to offer devoted, inexpensive and accessible finance for climate-positive investments at scale.
We additionally reiterate the Declaration’s name for a revaluation of the idea of Gross Home Product by the correct valuation of pure capital and ecosystem providers, together with however not restricted to forests that sequester carbon.
Lastly, the worldwide local weather governance structure have to be essentially honest, simply and tailored to immediately’s challenges. The world deserves a worldwide local weather governance system that acknowledges with nice urgency and with out equivocation that local weather change is the one biggest problem dealing with humanity – a system that calls for and undertakes audacious and concerted motion from all nations to decrease emissions and scale back the focus of greenhouse gases within the environment.
Everybody is aware of that Africa isn’t traditionally chargeable for world warming, but it bears the brunt of the consequences of local weather change. This however, neither African management nor its folks have any curiosity in enjoying the sufferer card. The continent is solely targeted on discovering options and main with motion and urgency. For the sake of planetary well being and human well-being, we demand that different nations, leaders, and peoples do the identical.
If Belem is to dwell as much as its billing because the ‘Supply COP’, it should ship on this straightforward proposition. Given the size of interconnected crises, the world has no alternative – and no time. The time to behave, and to take action boldly, is now. Africa has heard the message and is already on the transfer. Will the remainder of the world please be part of Africa on this singular generational activity to safe our collective futures, and that of our, pretty, lonely planet?
