The UN and Ethiopian government have urged the forthcoming Africa Climate Summit 2, set for next week, to send a clear global message: “Africa is ready to supercharge climate action, but COP30 must ensure Africa is fully enabled to do so.”
The joint statement – issued at Climate Week taking place in Addis Ababa – comes as nations around the world prepare for the crucial COP30 global climate conference in Brazil in November.
The statement – from H.E. Dr Fitsum Assefa, Ethiopia’s Minister of Planning and Development, and Mr Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary – sets the stage for the Africa Climate Summit starting this coming Monday, 8 September, in Addis Ababa.
“This Climate Week has shown that no continent holds greater potential than Africa for climate actions that transform lives and economies for the better. With the world’s youngest population, vast natural resources, unparalleled renewable energy potential, and extraordinary diversity and human ingenuity, Africa is a colossal coiled spring of climate action possibility,” said the statement.
“This Climate Week has shown that African innovators are putting forward pioneering solutions to boost climate resilience and cut planet-heating emissions.
However, it has also highlighted again that only a fraction of this potential has yet been realised. Global decarbonisation is charging ahead, with clean energy investments hitting $2 trillion last year alone, driving economic growth and millions of new jobs, but only a fraction of that investment is flowing to African nations.”
The two leaders pointed to recent United Nations climate COPs delivering concrete global outcomes that should materially benefit Africa and other developing nations.
“But to realise these benefits, COP30 must take the next concrete steps forward: with ambitious outcomes which convert agreements into results on the ground, and scalable solutions which drive a new era of implementation.
Because when all nations are empowered to take bold climate actions, this strengthens the entire global economy and lifts up all the world’s 8 billion people,” the statement concludes.
During the Climate Week, Ethiopia also announced its bid to host the COP32 UN Climate Conference in 2027.
“We have the capacity, the facilities, the location, the connectivity to host the much-anticipated climate summit,” Ethiopian President H.E. Taye Atske-Selassie said.
The joint statement and announcement of Ethiopia’s bid for COP32 cap a highly productive Climate Week attended by delegates from 119 countries, and hundreds of representatives from NGOs, investors and other international organizations.
“Climate Week has been about connecting the international climate process to people’s daily lives. We’ve worked together here in Addis to help translate pledges into actions. From community mini-grids to recycling innovations in Kibera, Kenya; to green bonds in Morocco and digital platforms tracking ambition across the continent: we’ve heard from innovators of climate action that is profitable, scalable, and irreversible,” said Executive Secretary.
Negotiators also participated in a solutions-focused workshop, as part of Climate Week’s new approach this year, aiming to bring the intergovernmental process and real-economy implementation closer together. By clustering mandated meetings in the COP process together, Climate Week also delivered cost savings and efficiencies.