African hopes for COP29

The following was the result of a virtual meeting of  East and Southern Africa faith leaders in July 2024. They requested that ACT Alliance, Caritas Internationalis, and the Anglican Alliance develop this statement based on their hopes. It was endorsed by the following ACT Forums: Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, and by Caritas’ faith leaders. It outlines the priorities of these faith and spiritual leaders for COP 29 and serves as a set of advocacy points on Climate Finance and the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA). 

We, the religious leaders and faith actors representing Africa’s diverse and united voices, stand together to express deep concern for the consequences of climate change on the earth and its people, all entrusted, as our faiths reveal, to our common care. Despite contributing the least to global emissions, Africa faces exponential impacts, posing systemic risks to its economies, infrastructure investments, water and food systems, public health, agriculture, and livelihoods, threatening to undo its modest development gains and slip into higher levels of extreme poverty. 

As guardians of ethical wisdom and spiritual guidance, we are saddened by the insufficient urgency and ambition in addressing climate change. It is crucial for political leaders, communities, and ourselves to respond to the earth’s cries and the urgent pleas of those most impacted by its changing climate. Our sacred teachings demand that we be responsible for creation. The values of stewardship, empathy, justice, equity, and solidarity, as enshrined in our faith traditions, must guide every decision and action that is taken at COP 29 in Azerbaijan, Baku. 

As Baku begins, Africa must chart a new course of action in shaping the future of adaptation and climate finance through the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). The new finance goal will provide an opportunity for Africa to elevate her agency and strategically center real and felt needs, realities, and demands in the goal’s determination. 

While the NCQG holds a significant promise to Africa, its success will depend on several factors. 

Therefore: 

  • The COP 29 negotiation process must be inclusive and participatory, ensuring that the voices and needs of developing countries are adequately represented. 
  • The NCQG must be ambitious yet realistic, balancing the financial capacities of developed countries with the urgent needs of developing nations. 
  • The international community must work together to establish a framework ensuring efficient and equitable distribution of climate finance. 

As representatives of the majority of the global population who live with religious affiliations and values, we will not only hold leaders to account but will also support governments, and politicians working towards an ambitious global climate agreement in Paris and beyond. 

Therefore: 

We call for a fair, ambitious, and binding global deal applicable to all countries and amplify the following as matters central to the African region that must be considered. 

Global Goal on Adaptation key considerations and messages 

  • Adoption of clear indicators to track progress on adaptation targets transparently. 
  • Upholding of the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) for a fair effort-sharing approach and equitable outcomes.
  • Support and prioritization of adaptation strategies that are led by local communities and combine scientific research with indigenous practices for more effective adaptation. 
  • Clear language and specific targets for means of implementation, including finance, technology, and capacity building for developing countries. 
  • Focus on implementation mechanisms, resource mobilization, and preventing diversion to other areas such as loss and damage. 
  • Strengthened coordination among African negotiators to present a unified stance at international forums. 
  • Predictable and substantial adaptation finance to support the development and implementation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). 

New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) 

Despite pledges to double adaptation finance since COP 26, issues with accessibility, ambiguity, monitoring, and accountability persist, revealing a huge gap between pledges and needs. The upcoming negotiations on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) at COP 29 should reveal pivotal outcomes. 

We urge governments to: 

  • Establish a clear, ambitious, and science-based finance commitment to support NDCs and NAPs on a grant-equivalent basis that does not increase debt burdens for developing countries. 
  • Develop a clear methodology for climate finance accounting and reporting. 
  • Settle on a globally agreed-upon definition of climate finance to enhance transparency and accountability. 
  • Agree on a quantum that reflects the true scale and crisis of climate crisis and genuine commitment rooted in the reality of the climate needs of the developing countries rather than politically negotiated figures. 
  • Deliver a concrete, yearly target over a 5-year duration in line with the GST and NDC cycle, whereby a review to inform updating of the goal is done. 
  • Stabilize the NCQG through a mechanism that ensures continuous annual support rather than sporadic and unstable pledges, which can undermine climate action efforts. 
  • Call for specific measures and financing to close the adaptation finance gap and deliver on the Global Goal on Adaptation, ensuring resources are secured to support the most vulnerable nations.

With faith guiding our moral decisions and love and dignity illuminating our path, let us unite in the quest for a fair, impartial, and enduring world. Together, we possess the ability to revive, mend, and care for Mother Earth, the provider of sustenance for us all. 

PHOTO: Abba Eeldesibhat Engidaw is a local priest who will address the traditional and spiritual mechanisms of forest protection with local residents. PHOTO: Yemoanpicture/ACT

 

Climate Finance: Unlocking Global Climate Action at COP29 

 

By Mattias Söderberg

As world leaders gather in Baku, Azerbaijan for the UN Climate Summit COP29, the focus is squarely on climate finance – the linchpin that could determine the success or failure of global climate action. For years, climate summits have produced ambitious agreements and initiatives, from tripling renewable energy to transitioning away from fossil fuels. However, these laudable goals remain largely aspirational without adequate funding to back them up. 

The urgent task at COP29 is to adopt a “New Collective Quantified Goal” on climate finance that is both ambitious and responsive to real-world needs. The current target of $100 billion per year is woefully inadequate, falling far short of what’s required to address the climate crisis effectively. But the new goal must be about more than just increasing the dollar amount. 

Equally crucial is ensuring that future climate finance is accessible and allocated fairly. This means providing sufficient funding across mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage initiatives. It also requires implementing gender-sensitive approaches, respecting human rights, and empowering local communities with ownership and access to funds. 

Negotiations on future climate finance are challenging, with parties far apart in their positions. No one wants to foot the bill, but the harsh reality is that if responsibility isn’t taken, the cost will automatically fall on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities. This is fundamentally unjust. 

Instead, the future goal should be built on the “polluter pays” principle, ensuring that those most responsible for climate change bear the financial burden of addressing it. This approach not only aligns with ethical considerations but also provides a practical framework for mobilizing the necessary resources. 

The climate crisis is still manageable, but only if decisive action is taken immediately. The challenge lies in ensuring that all countries can participate in this global effort. Many nations in the Global South lack the capacity to implement necessary measures without access to climate finance. 

As negotiations unfold in Baku, the international community must recognize that climate finance is not just about numbers on a balance sheet. It’s about enabling a just transition, protecting vulnerable communities, and safeguarding our shared future. The decisions made at COP29 will ripple through generations to come. It’s time for world leaders to step up, break the deadlock, and commit to a climate finance goal that truly meets the moment. Our planet’s future hangs in the balance, and the clock is ticking. 

Mattias Söderberg is co-chair of the ACT Alliance Climate Justice Reference Group.

PHOTO: Albin Hillert/LWF

Climate action: we must persist

By Phillip Huggins

The importance of a successful COP29 can’t be overstated. We know the quality of unprecedented unity and action which needs to happen: 

  • Nations must update their Nationally Determined Contributions [NDCs], as is called for by the guiding Paris Agreement. 
  • These updates must be ambitious and transparent so as to give hope that we can still keep below 1.5 degrees warming. 
  • The NDC’s must include clear commitments on mitigation and adaptation, and must address the kind of losses and damage many are already suffering, as Pacific leaders have poignantly conveyed. 
  • All countries must prioritise the urgent phase-out of fossil fuels. 

COP29 is being held in Azerbaiijan, a country south of Russia and bordering Iran, which relies on oil and gas for 90 percent of its export income. Yet ambitious climate action is what is needed. This includes much in the area of ‘climate finance’ so those most in need have the capacity to mitigate the current effects of climate change and make sensible adaptations to what we know is coming. 

Crucially, cooperative climate action at COP29 is also action for peace. It would say, should it happen, that we prioritise our collective future over national rivalries, enmities and corporate interests. Crucial, because after 28 previous COPs, this one needs to do so much more than any before. Ambitious outcomes need to be agreed quickly so implementation is not delayed. There must be no more compromises, no more talk of magical geo-engineering solutions that prolong fossil fuel use. No unnecessary distractions like the idea of nuclear power plants here, already sufficiently critiqued as folly. 

Here in Australia, we are in a relatively safe place and with boundless opportunities to provide regional neighbours with encouragement by the pace and quality of our own transition to renewables. Many Australians are cooperating wonderfully. 

The desperate need is for intelligent bipartisan cooperation. The transition to a society that is net zero carbon emissions is so complex and the consequences of failure will be catastrophic. The clear need is for the quality of national cooperation we meet in other emergencies. Not politics that fans resentment, amplifies doubts and makes people more anxious in an already anxious time. It’s hard to know what else to do that will bring reality to our political discourse. 

We just have to persist …  An actor friend, who is also an expert on Dante, decided this week to sew a simple message on silk and stand with it outside a central city train station in Australia. His silk banner says simply: ‘Thank you for taking the train.’ 

In times of hate and fear, in times where the survival of planetary life depends on the decisions we make now, the best lives are those that respond with love. 

Bishop Phillip Huggins is the director of Ecumenical Studies at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. An earlier version of this article appeared in Pearls and Irritations, John Menadue’s Public Policy Journal.

 

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