Africa Announces Its Key Climate Justice Principles Ahead Of The Inaugural Summit

By Jean Pierre Afadhali

Ahead of the first Africa Climate Summit, the continent leaders have revealed key principles the proposals on climate justice will be based on to tackle global climate crisis and its impact on Africa.

The inaugural summit is expected to bring together leaders, experts, and policymakers from across the world to discuss the pressing issue of climate change and its impact on Africa. The summit will release a declaration that contains a financing architecture that “works for all”. It will guide the continent’s representatives during Cop 28 in November this year.

Kenyan government is set to co-host the inaugural Africa Climate Summit (ACS) with the African Union Commission (AUC) in Nairobi from 4th to 6th September 2023.

Participants in the upcoming climate talks will design and catalyse actions and solutions for climate change in Africa by providing a platform to deliberate on the nexus between climate change, Africa’s development reality, and the need to push for increased investment in climate action globally, and specifically in Africa.

Now ACS23 has revealed four key principles that will guide the continent’s proposals in September. According to the summit organisers, Africa is pushing for more financing, targeted financing, and cheaper higher risk appetite financing. ACS stated on its Twitter platform. “We as low and middle income countries have a lot to contribute to the global climate agenda and we need to commit to playing our part, we cannot keep growing in high-carbon intensive manner,” read another of the principles.

We need to ensure that capital is optimized and spent on global basis [with carbon reduction as return parameter] rather than locally optimized- many of the lowest cost sources of reducing global emission are typically found in the global south compared with industrialized countries, stated key principle two.

The last key principle states: “Climate and economic development are not in climate conflict but interdependent; they need to happen together or neither will happen.”

Kenya’s minster of environment Ms. Roselinda Soipan Tuya stated in article published on June 27 that Africa would like to build consensus and take concrete steps forward. “We want to use the Summit as a springboard for Africa’s engagement with the next global round of climate diplomacy at Cop28 in the UAE in November.”

The Africa Climate Summit will also focus on adaptation, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and climate finance. Participants will share their experiences, best practices, and strategies for addressing climate change, and will work to develop a roadmap for African countries to achieve their climate goals.

Honorable Soipan further stated that Africa has abundant renewable resources that could transform the global energy sector, ensuring green growth with low greenhouse gas emissions.

“Our continent’s renewable energy potential is rated as ‘superabundant’. With the right technologies and supportive financing mechanisms, Africa holds the world’s potential to change the renewable energy narrative for the entire world,” added the minister.

The African Climate Policy Centre projects that the Gross Domestic Product in the five African subregions would suffer significant decrease as a result of a global temperature increase. It states that for scenarios ranging from a 1 °C to a 4 °C increase in global temperatures relative to pre-industrial levels, the continent’s overall GDP is expected to decrease by 2.25% to 12.12%. West, Central and East Africa exhibit a higher adverse impact than Southern and North Africa.

Kenya’s president William Ruto has recently met the chairman of African Union Mousa Faki. Mr. Ruto said via Twitter that building partnerships is an effective way to dealing with climate change that threatens our communities and ecosystems. President Ruto added: “If we respond collectively and boldly — and in a coordinated way — we stand to make strides in our development, meet our aspirations and prosper.”

According to the same opinion piece authored by Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment published in Dubai based publication, Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change. It states that Africans lose up to 15 per cent of their potential GDP to climate-related risks, including failed seasonal rains, drought and loss of livestock. The minister’s article adds: “By 2100, this might rise to as much as 64 per cent of forgone GDP, equivalent to hundreds of millions of people prevented from escaping poverty. The need for transformational change is therefore not only apparent but urgent.”

Meanwhile, President William Ruto has called for a concerted global effort to fight climate change, saying the consequences are a threat to all nations. The Kenya’s head of state said priority should be on mitigation measures and not a blame game on who contributed to it or not. The president called on developed countries to provide the expertise to leverage Africa’s abundant renewable energy.

Mr. Ruto made the remarks during a dialogue on the African climate action summit held at the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Mr. Ruto was quoted as saying “The world is now edging close and closer towards the brink of a climate disaster whose warning signs so far are the most catastrophic environmental and atmospheric phenomena humankind has ever encountered. The GCA exists to remind us of these fundamental truths, and to mobilize and empower effective responses in ways that are both reassuring and inspiring.”

At the end of ACS 2023, the adopted declaration will outline the continent’s road map for diplomatic engagement with the world on climate change.