Before global constraints become irreversible, countries must show how loss and damage can be measured and linked to development and debt. The 2025 COP30 in Brazil was a milestone moment in the global climate agenda, but for unexpected reasons. The United States (US) did not participate in the Conference of the Parties of the United…
Whenever rain clouds gather over her village, Ntombenhle Ndlovu finds herself checking the weather forecast again and again, bracing for what might come next. When the rain finally starts, she steps outside to feel the first droplets on her skin, measuring their intensity before she can breathe a little easier. “It has become a natural…
Climate refugees who abandon drying agricultural lands in frontier countries and head to South Africa to seek new livelihoods are encountering crushing hardship in this country. ‘Crop yield, livestock failed. That’s why we came to South Africa confident of a fresh start,” says Joshua Tuso (41), an undocumented migrant from Zimbabwe. But “it has been…
Nairobi — President Donald Trump has escalated efforts to further distance the United States from international organizations and entities focused on climate, the environment, and energy. This strategy is in step with his administration’s established approach to undermine and redirect funds and international cooperation away from climate and clean energy programs. But where some see…
African cities bear the brunt of climate impacts, and cannot afford to wait for international solidarity that may never come. Multilateral climate action and funding faced a major setback last week when the United States (US) announced its withdrawal from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and 65 other international bodies. It…
The Group of Twenty (G20) emerged from the financial turmoil that followed the collapse of the Thai currency in 1997, which rapidly spread financial instability from Thailand to the rest of Asia. At that time, the finance ministers and central bank governors convened to forge a strategy to stabilise the global economy and prevent future…
Climate change is no longer just about melting ice or hotter summers. It is also a financial problem. Droughts, floods, storms and heatwaves damage crops, factories and infrastructure. At the same time, the global push to cut greenhouse gas emissions creates risks for countries that depend on oil, gas or coal. These pressures can destabilise…
Just 20 countries produce 80% of the world’s oil, gas and coal. Since 2019, researchers have released regular reports analysing how these governments plan to continue drilling and mining for fossil fuels – and how those plans diverge from the global climate goal set out in the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit temperature rise…
At the 2025 global climate summit, COP30, held in Belém, Brazil, one decision stood out with major consequences for Africa: countries agreed on a new set of progress indicators. The “Belém Adaptation Indicators” were developed through a two-year UN process. Although the name may sound technical, the idea is straightforward. For the first time, countries…
Food solutions were on display everywhere around COP30–from the 80 tonnes of local and agroecological meals served to concrete proposals for tackling hunger–but none of this made it into the negotiating rooms or the final agreement. –Elisabetta Recine, IPES-Food panel expert – As they ate catered meals, COP30 negotiators had no appetite for fixing broken…
