COP 29: Africa’s Opportunity to Lead on Climate Action

By Thuku Kariuki and Daniel Furnad

While there has certainly been plenty of bad news related to the effects of climate change in Africa, optimism continues to simmer ahead of the annual United Nations-sponsored meetings on the issue. 

COP 29 will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, starting in mid-November. The UN’s top official on global warming has some encouraging words for those looking forward to attending the conference and providing concrete action, especially on funding.

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell spoke at a ministerial conference on the environment in Côte d'Ivoire on September 5th. 

There, he called climate action “the single greatest economic opportunity of this century,” adding, “It can and should be the single greatest opportunity for Africa to lift up people, communities, and economies after centuries of exploitation.”

He pledged to include more African representatives from the Global South during COP 29. This comes after Power Shift Africa provided analysis showing that half of the badges distributed for COP 28 went to a bloc that includes Australia, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and the USA. These nations represent only 12% of the global population. 

Power Shift Africa Director Mohamed Adow commented, “For too long, the COP summits have been largely full of delegates from the Global North. It’s an example of how too much power at the climate talks has been held by people and organizations based in countries that have caused the climate crisis. 

Finally, we are getting a fairer distribution of observer badges. It’s only right that people from countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis are able to attend the meetings that are supposed to address their needs.”

In his speech in Abidjan, Stiell urged the new African delegates who would be accredited for the November summit to come prepared. He pointed out that only 29 of the 54 African nations expected to attend had put forward national adaptation plans. 

He added another suggestion, saying, “Biennial Transparency Reports are also a crucial enabling tool, intended to help governments strengthen climate policies over time. We know many countries need help in achieving this. The UN system provides a wide range of practical support. I urge you to make use of them. We, the UN system, are here to help.”

The UN Climate Change chief also presented a case for effectively cutting emissions from Africa at a low cost, simply by targeting cooking fuels. “Cooking with traditional fuels emits greenhouse gases roughly equivalent to global aviation or shipping. It also contributes to 3 million premature deaths every single year. 

It would cost 4 billion US dollars annually to fix this in Africa by 2030; an outstanding investment by any measure,” Stiell stated. This amount is tiny compared to the $400 billion spent on clean energy last year. Out of that huge total, only $2.6 billion was directed to Africa.

Ultimately, the global meeting needs to help Africa overcome the dire effects that climate change has wrought. Many African nations are losing up to 5% of their GDP; food production is declining, pushing up global prices; desertification and habitat destruction are escalating; supply chains are being strangled; and famine threatens several countries on the continent.

However, COP can target these problems by creating cleaner, more reliable, and affordable energy across Africa; generating more jobs; strengthening local economies, especially for women; achieving widespread electrification; and providing lighting at night so children can do homework, enabling education to drive productivity and stimulate stronger economic growth.

Strong and focused African voices will be needed at COP 29 to achieve these lofty goals.