The forthcoming COP30 climate change conference will play a key role in ensuring that Africa is able to ‘supercharge climate action’, the UN and Ethiopia’s minister of planning and development, have said in a joint statement.
The statement, by Ethiopian minister Dr Fitsum Assefa and Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change executive secretary, was published ahead of the Africa Climate Summit, which commences in Addis Ababa on 8 September.
As the statement puts it, ‘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.’
‘Concrete steps forward’
While the Africa Climate Summit will send a clear message, the COP30 conference, taking place in Belém, Brazil, in November, must ‘take the next concrete steps forward’ in delivering global outcomes that will materially benefit Africa and other developing nations.
‘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 read.
COP32 in Ethiopia?
Elsewhere, Ethiopia has formally announced its bid to host the COP32 UN Climate Conference in 2027, at the Climate Week event to precede the Africa Climate Summit.
“We have the capacity, the facilities, the location, the connectivity to host the much-anticipated climate summit,” Ethiopian president Taye Atske-Selassie (pictured) commented.
Over 40 initiatives were showcased at workshops held during Climate Week, including projects focusing on renewable energy, recycling, green finance, and digital platforms tracking climate action.
Minister Dr Fitsum Assefa described Climate Week as a “bridge between negotiation and implementation […] where ambition meets action, where commitments are translated into real solutions that reach communities, restore ecosystems, and advance sustainable development.” Read more here. [Photo: UN Climate Change]
