Nairobi. - As COP29 in Azerbaijan nears, African negotiators are urged to secure fair climate financing. Greenpeace Africa and other climate justice groups have called for a "needs-based" climate finance framework, emphasizing public, debt-free funding and rejecting fossil fuel support.
Amos Wemanya, Responsive Campaigns Lead at Greenpeace Africa, said:
“Climate negotiations have perfected the act of kicking the can down the road. COP29 must put a stop to kicking the poor in the stomach. The climate crisis is biting in Africa. Communities’ lives and livelihoods are on the line. For this COP29 to succeed, an ambitious and needs-based new collective and quantified goal on climate finance must be established.”
Key demands presented to African negotiators include the establishment of a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), emphasizing the need for increased public climate finance. This goal is to be supported by a Climate Damages Tax (CDT) on fossil fuel extraction, aimed at generating essential funds. Additionally, campaigners insist on public and debt-free financing to avoid further economic strain on African nations. They also firmly reject any support for fossil fuel production and other strategies that extend the climate crisis.
Charity Migwi, Senior Africa Campaigner at Oil Change International, added:
“Climate finance should not be used to finance fossil fuel expansion. Fossil-driven development contradicts Africa’s visions and sustainable development goals. Under the New Collective and Quantified Goal on climate finance, funding should not go to dangerous distractions that are expensive, speculative, a proven failure, or unproven at scale, typically serving to prolong the lifetime of fossil fuel assets”
Adding a voice from the frontline, Antony Madilschy Otieno, a Greenpeace Volunteer and Mai Mahiu resident, recounted a recent climate disaster in his community:
“What happened in the early hours of April 29, 2024, in the Mai Mahiu area must never be allowed to happen again. Where human greed, profits-over-lives mentality, and a wanton disregard for human life through continued fossil fuel production and their excessive greenhouse gas emissions, causing freak and unmitigated weather patterns, coupled with human negligence, resulted in a disastrous and highly preventable calamity that needlessly took the lives of so many innocent people on that morning.”
“Never again. We’re calling for an end to fossil fuels, for polluters to pay for the damages they have caused, such as the destroyed land, lost livelihoods, and the loss of human life experienced in the Mai Mahiu area, and for urgent climate reparations NOW.” concluded Otieno.
As COP29 approaches, Greenpeaace African urges negotiators to advocate for a finance plan that genuinely addresses Africa’s climate challenges. Wealthy nations and fossil fuel companies must contribute their fair share, supporting Africa’s transition to a sustainable future.
This is the moment for action. Finance is the lifeblood of Africa’s climate action and survival.
Statement of demands to Africa Group of Negotiators can be found here.
Jeffrey D. Sachs: