UN Secretary General António Guterres with COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago. PHOTO/UN.
By PATRICK MAYOYO
African Non-State Actors (NSAs) who attended the COP30 in Belém, Brazil, have issued a comprehensive briefing summarising the key outcomes of the conference and their implications for Africa’s climate future.
While the briefing acknowledges that COP30 did not deliver the breakthrough that Africa urgently needs, it highlights new opportunities for leveraging Africa’s special needs and circumstances (SNC) in future climate decisions.
The briefing underscores that, despite significant political signals from COP30, such as the initiation of a process to address Africa’s SNCs and the commitment to triple adaptation finance by 2035, there remain serious gaps in terms of binding financial commitments and the phase-out of fossil fuels.
The African NSAs, including civil society groups, environmental activists, and advocacy networks, emphasised that while COP30 opened some doors, it failed to secure the concrete deliverables needed to protect lives, promote development, and ensure climate justice for Africa.
The briefing says COP30 formally opened a two-year process aimed at recognising Africa’s SNCs, a long-awaited step in ensuring that Africa’s climate vulnerabilities are addressed in all future global climate decisions.
It however, notes African NSAs have warned against any dilution of SNCs by lumping them into broader categories for all developing countries. They are pushing for a specific, targeted approach that links Africa’s vulnerability to its structural economic constraints, including debt and unfair trade.
The African NSAs say COP30 saw the adoption of 59 Belém Adaptation Indicators and the launch of the “Belém–Addis vision on adaptation”, a two-year process to align policies for operationalising these indicators.
“While African NSAs welcomed the promise to triple adaptation finance by 2035, they stressed that this should be achieved through grants, not loans, and called for adaptation to be recognised as a legal obligation, rather than a charitable action,” they added.
On mitigation, African NSAs expressed disappointment with the lack of progress on fossil fuel phase-out, noting that COP30 failed to establish clear, time-bound commitments from developed countries to reduce fossil fuel dependency.
They are now focused on securing stronger mitigation measures in future Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and national energy strategies.
On loss and damage the briefing says COP30 made strides with the adoption of the “Barbados Implementation Modalities” for the Loss and Damage Fund, but the fund remains under-capitalised, with pledges still falling short of the required funding.
The African NSAs say COP30 saw the adoption of 59 Belém Adaptation Indicators. PHOTO/UN
African NSAs are calling for greater, grant-based capitalisation of the fund and quicker access for local communities and civil society organisations (CSOs) who are often on the frontlines of climate impacts.
On just transition mechanism, the African NSAs says the new UNFCCC Just Transition Mechanism, which seeks to ensure that climate action is equitable and inclusive, was praised by African NSAs for its focus on human rights, labour rights, and gender equality. However, they warned that without adequate funding, the principles outlined in the mechanism risk remaining aspirational rather than actionable.
COP30 reaffirmed a commitment to mobilise at least USD 1.3 trillion annually for developing countries by 2035, but African NSAs cautioned that the absence of a binding trajectory for this finance leaves too much uncertainty.
They called for greater clarity on financing commitments, with a focus on grants rather than loans, and a deep reform of multilateral development banks (MDBs) to ensure that climate finance supports Africa’s development agenda.
The briefing concludes with a call to action for African governments, negotiators, and civil society to unite and push for the full implementation of these agreements.
African NSAs insist that the next phase is about political strategy and robust implementation, with a focus on aligning national climate, industrial, debt, and social protection policies with Africa’s SNCs and Just Transition principles.
While COP30 may not have provided the comprehensive solutions Africa sought, it has created crucial entry points for African NSAs to continue advocating for a more just and equitable global climate governance system.
With future COP negotiations already on the horizon, African actors are gearing up for a renewed push to turn the doors opened at COP30 into tangible, life-saving climate action.
For more details, you can access the full COP30 briefing note, which provides an in-depth analysis of the outcomes and outlines updated positions for ongoing advocacy.
