Africa's climate activists skeptical of COP process

Climate activists in Africa are pushing the African Union to convene a summit to reassess the utility of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process to Africa.

Activists lament the lack of action to address the climate crisis and avert the worst impacts of climate despite two decades of international climate change negotiations and dialogues.

The activists recommend the summit, bringing together the African Group of Negotiators, Civil Society, and other Non-State Actors to develop homegrown strategies for tackling the impacts of climate change, announce actions to force big polluters to take responsibility for their emissions, and effect of their pollution on African communities.

The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the sidelines of the 36th Summit of Heads of States and Governments of the African Union last week, to draw lessons from COP27 held in Sharm el-Sheikh.

The meeting sought to develop strategies to secure COP28 outcomes that are ambitious and at par with Africa's urgent needs. "This omission prevents global climate policies and actions that reflect the continent's needs," a statement read.

Among other consequences, the activists noted, adaptation finance remains insufficient, inadequate, and inaccessible. Conditional pledges to cut emissions in African countries' NDCs remain vastly underfunded. "Instead, the global community has "forced" Africa to take on the burden of addressing the climate crises, which is disproportionate to its responsibilities and means," said PACJA Executive Director Mithika Mwenda.

They noted that failure to consider these issues for discussion during successive COPs suggested lack of global solidarity and raised questions about utility of African nations' continued involvement in UNFCCC processes.

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The meeting urged the AU to put the plight of millions losing their livelihoods and lives above personal, national and international political and economic considerations and rise to the urgency of the climate crisis in Africa.Campaign groups on the continent have further expressed their disappointment that some countries responsible for bulk of global greenhouse gas emissions have reopened coal plants and extended search for new fossil fuels.

They warned that discoveries and the promise for new investments and markets from the North undermined efforts to encourage African leaders to shift from fossil fuels.

African climate activists are doubling down on their criticism of emerging far-right movement in developed countries and the resulting inward-looking political and economic interests that are overshadowing the need for collective climate action.

The activists are calling on African Heads of State to send a strong message against using the current geopolitical context as a pretext for delaying badly needed climate action and advancing false solutions.

The campaigners also called out the UN for allowing the participation of individuals with questionable climate credentials to lead climate negotiations.

They stated that the move was a departure of the global community from the goal of the UNFCCC and would erode the trust of COP28.

The United Arab Emirates announced last month that oil executive Sultan al-Jaber will lead the next round of UN climate talks in Dubai in November.

"The appointment of an oil executive to lead climate negotiations in 2023 will prop oil lobbies that have tried to derail global climate action for decades," they said, urging the AU, UN, and other bodies to join the African civil society in rejecting the appointment.