Africa has called on the world leaders to turn their pledges into action regarding the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

The Africa Group of Negotiators (AGN), chaired by Richard Muyungi and the COP30 Special Envoy for Africa, Carlos Lopes, made the call on Saturday at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil.

Speaking at a joint media briefing, they outlined the continent’s priorities for COP30 and called for scaled-up climate finance, a strong global goal on adaptation, and fair global trade rules that uphold multilateralism and deliver development for all.

They explained that Africa’s determination to secure concrete outcomes that match the ambition and scale needed to tackle the climate crisis is already having devastating effects on the continent.

According to them, Climate Finance Article 9.1—the legal obligation of developed countries to provide climate finance to developing countries—is critical to African countries implementing their NDCs.

“For Africa, Article 9.1 must be fully implemented, just like every other part of the Paris Agreement. It is an obligation, not an option.

“Without it, adaptation finance will be replaced by loans, leaving vulnerable countries to pay for impacts they did not cause,” Mr Muyungi said.

According to him, resource mobilisation under Article 9.3 is valuable for mitigation, but it cannot be a substitute for the guaranteed provision of finance required under Article 9.1, as adaptation depends on it.

He warned about global finance models that increasingly burden developing countries with commercial debt.

“Blended and hybrid finance often camouflage the fact that commercial conditions are expanding. These instruments are not multiplying finance; they are simply bringing in more commercial money,” he said.

Mr Muyungi further criticised Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JET-Ps) for shifting away from grant-based support toward loan-heavy arrangements.

The AGN chair emphasised that indicators must track global support, not to impose new obligations on developing countries.

“Indicators under the Global Goal on Adaptation are essential; we need a clear way to measure progress, just as we do for mitigation and the 1.5°C goal.

“But the issue is which indicators are being chosen. Some of them expect developing countries to do more with less, adding responsibilities without the means to deliver.

“Our concern is not with indicators themselves, but with ensuring they reflect real adaptation needs and come with the support required to achieve them,” he said.

According to Mr Muyungi, recognising Africa’s special needs is rooted not in politics but in science, geography, and history, as Africa’s case makes this even more urgent.

“Under Article 4.8, Africa also falls within several categories of highly vulnerable countries. And our historical and developmental context compounds these challenges,” he said.

He noted that negotiators had reduced the list of proposed indicators from over 10,000 to around 100 to align with the means of implementation, including finance, technology, and capacity-building commitments.

He said regarding the Baku–Belém Roadmap, unlocking the $1.3 trillion underscored Africa’s concern about slow progress on climate finance following the COP29 decision on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) to mobilise $300 billion annually by 2035.

“From Baku to Belém, the core issue is simple: we now have a commitment to mobilise at least 300 billion dollars a year up to 2035 and to build a pathway toward 1.3 trillion dollars.

“But instead of negotiations, we were given consultations, and the roadmap was published without the final round of discussions we expected,” he said.

He added that delivering $300 billion annually would be a challenge for Africa as the world entered a new phase.

Mr Muyungi reiterated that despite consultations in Bonn and additional ministerial discussions, African countries had expected a more inclusive process before the roadmap was published.

He said the AGN welcomed the operationalisation of the loss and damage fund through the Barbados Implementation modalities.

He, however, stated that the initial $250 million allocation fell short of the scale of needs.

“Under the Barbados implementation modalities, loss and damage support is made up of pure grants, not loans, and countries can access it through four clear channels.

“These are directly through their national focal points, through existing direct-access entities, through international entities like UNDP or the World Bank, or through regional institutions.

“This is the first time we have a fund that delivers only grants, and that’s a major step forward,” the AGN chair said.

According to him, the amounts are still small, with $800 million in the fund and $250 million allocated for 2025–2026, but it builds momentum as we expect more pledges at COP30.

He said African negotiators were also pushing to secure new resources through the adaptation fund as it transitioned from Kyoto to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

“The principle is simple: those who caused the problem must support those living with the impacts. But for 30 years, this principle has been contested. We’re trying to uphold multilateralism while ensuring these core obligations are honoured.

“These are the difficult choices before us. With Africa requiring over 3 trillion dollars for adaptation alone, we significantly call for increased pledges at COP30,” he said.

On trade, he stated that those calling for the discussions to be moved to the World Trade Organisation were the same actors who did not respect it as the normative space for the concerned issues.

“We see this in examples such as CBAM, new forest-related clauses from Europe, recent tariff increases, and a growing list of protectionist measures that invoke climate concerns while penalising countries that contribute least to the climate crisis.

“It is a clear paradox; what we need instead are incentives for countries that are not contributing to the problem. Some may emit in specific industries or exports, but the overall picture is what matters.

“Africa emits the least globally. You cannot penalise isolated sectors without considering the continent’s full development spectrum.”

Mr Muyungi demanded to know if Africa truly cherished multilateralism or unilateralism.

“At times, we all call for multilateralism, yet in practice, we defend our own territories and businesses.

“As negotiators, this contradiction puzzles us. We believed all countries would work together without putting up new borders, especially when facing a shared global challenge.

“ Yet, a number of countries have introduced trade-restrictive measures and justify them as WTO-related, whether on patent rights or other issues,“ he said.

(NAN)