- Africa this time round will be pushing for more climate finance flows to Africa through sustainable channels that won’t load African economies with more debts.
- The end goal is to strengthen the continent’s adaptation and mitigation defence systems against climate change and allow the countries to achieve a just transition.
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Leaders from Africa expect nothing short of ambitious financial outcomes months to the coming climate talks.
African Ministerial Conference on the Environment has already declared that a New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance should be adopted.
The NCQG would require rich nations to mobilise a quantum of no less than $1.3 trillion annually for developing countries.
NCQG is a new financial target from year 2025 onwards that developed countries, which are the biggest contributors to climate change, must make available to developing countries.
The amount will replace the previous commitment of $100 billion per year that the wealthy nations pledged in 2009 but failed to deliver on time.
In November, another round of climate talks also known as COP29 will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The views from the AMCEN will be consolidated and presented with ambitious expectations, represented by the African Group of Negotiators.
Africa this time round will be pushing for more climate finance flows to the continent through sustainable channels that won’t load African economies with more debts.
The end goal is to strengthen the continent’s adaptation and mitigation defence systems against climate change and allow the countries to achieve a just transition.
This perspective mirrors that of ministers from the 45 least developed countries (LDCs) who gathered in Lilongwe, Malawi, recently.
Meanwhile, the LDCs, under the Lilongwe Declaration on Climate Change 2024, want the new climate finance goal to be science-based.
They also want it to be reflective of the developing countries’ actual climate needs through increased public finance, predominantly delivered as grants.
The LDC ministers put the finance needed by their countries to implement their current climate goals at at least $1 trillion.
Also, they hold that only concessional finance should be included as climate finance and must be easily accessible.
Grants and concessional finance are crucial, in particular for adaptation and loss and damage.
This is given that it is the rich nations that have historically caused the unsustainable build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, stoking global warming to dangerous levels.
"We want COP29 to deliver a bold commitment to address climate change. This is not just about promises; it's about providing the resources needed to protect the lives and livelihoods of millions on the frontlines of the climate crisis," Least Developed Countries Group chairperson Evans Njewa said.
Greenpeace Africa Responsive Lead Amos Wemanya said COP29 presents African governments and the African Group of Negotiators on climate change an opportunity to present a strong case for debt-free, public and adequate climate finance.
“This is not time for African governments to gamble with carbon offsets and private finance as climate finance. We have been here before and all these have proved to be dangerous distractions to finding real solutions to the climate challenges on our continent,” he said.
Wemanya said rich countries should make polluters, especially the fossil industry, pay for the losses and damages caused to communities.
Imal Initiative for Climate and Development director Iskander Vernoit said African countries, as AMCEN noted, are already spending significant percentages of their GDP per year on climate change. This is despite not having caused this crisis.
Climate Diplomacy Associate at World Resources Institute Africa Yared Deme said some of the proposals made, reflect the urgent and evolving needs of countries to adapt to climate impacts, address loss and damage, and transition to low-carbon economies.
Climate Finance expert Julius Mbatia said the global financial architecture has not benefited developing countries. This is because its functioning and arrangements fall short of developing countries’ needs and realities.
Climate and Energy policy expert Joab Okanda said grants-based adaptation finance provided at a scale that reflects the greater needs assessment.
Developing countries face a crippling debt crisis worsened by increasing climate impacts.
The ministers from both groups are asking the international financial institutions and multilateral development banks to reform their funding approach towards less developed nations.
They should be more responsive to Africa’s needs, review their finance terms, and be more open to debt restructuring and relief on a need basis.
This would unlock climate and development finance without pushing these countries deeper into unsustainable debt.
The ministers have reiterated that climate finance should be given in form of grants and not loans which have worsened the debt situation.
AMCEN and LDC ministers want the Loss and Damage Fund to be urgently operationalised and capitalised as well as the Santiago Network meant to connect vulnerable countries with global providers of technical assistance, knowledge and resources needed to address climate risks.
The LDC ministers, in particular, want the fund to be set up with modalities that enable rapid, simple and direct budget support to governments.
This is through national treasuries and ministries of finance, as well as to enable direct access for national and subnational entities.
The African ministers have called for the reconsideration of the decision to host the Santiago Network in Geneva rather than Nairobi.
Similarly, the ministers are asking for Global Goal on Adaptation to be fully operationalised and ensure adequate adaptation response to protect people, livelihoods and ecosystems from natural disasters, with a special focus on finance, capacity building and technology transfer.
The amount of adaptation finance needed is about $360 billion annually, compared to about $18 billion that was available in 2019.