Chair
of the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN), Dr. Richard
Muyungi has emphasised the importance and power of Africa’s unity in global
negotiations.
Speaking
at the opening of the AGN Preparatory Plenary Meeting ahead of the 62nd
session of the UN Climate Change Subsidiary Bodies (SB62) in Bonn, Germany, Dr.
Muyungi said power was a crucial element of climate negotiations.
“Florian Weiler lists three factors
that determine power in UNFCCC negotiations:
the size of a country’s economy, its international prestige, and levels
of national greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity,” he said.
“When compared to the continent,
individual AGN member states score very low on all these factors. Therefore,
the AGN concept seeks to overcome this constraint through; providing a
coordinated African response; reducing the likelihood of contradictory and
competing bargaining positions; and discouraging incentives being offered to
individual African states by external powers, which could undermine unity and cohesion.
It is thus important that we continue leveraging on this power of unity as
Africa.”
Dr. Muyungi further noted that through
power of unity, AGN has been instrumental in representation and coordination by
speaking with one voice, allowing the continent to exert more influence in the
negotiation process.
“Over the years, the AGN has been
pivotal in addressing Africa’s vulnerability and highlighting the importance of
climate finance, adaptation, capacity building and overall climate action, by balancing
individual country priorities on the one hand and demonstrating cohesion as a
negotiating group on the other,” he added.
As a technical arm reporting to the African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and ultimately to the Committee of
African Heads of state on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), the AGN remains a key
instrument for Africa’s participation in climate negotiations and other related
processes.
Dr. Muyungi explained “the second key pillar of the AGN
position in the UNFCCC negotiations is the location of adaptation as the
principal regional response to climate change. In fact, in the context of the
impacts of drought, desertification, floods, and the need for adaptation,
Africa was, at one stage, the only region that was explicitly referred to in
the UNFCCC documents. The consistency of the AGN in advancing this position has
undoubtably contributed to the prominence of adaptation in UNFCCC negotiations.
“This prominence of adaptation is reflected by (1) direct
linkages that now exist between climate finance and adaptation, including
recognition of the need for equal division of climate finance for adaptation
and for mitigation; (2) the implications for adaptation responses owing to the
failure in achieving the global mitigation goal, (3) the link between the
global temperature goal and adaptation, (4) a shift in the framing of
adaptation from a local issue to a global responsibility, (5) the inclusion of
the adaptation component in the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) by
almost all developing countries, (6) the establishment of the global goal on
adaptation by the Paris Agreement; and (7) the inclusion of adaptation in the
global stock take of the Paris Agreement”.
Priorities at SB62 session
At
the Bonn Climate Talks, the group has prioritized Adaptation, Finance, Just Transition, Mitigation, Clean Cooking
and Mission 300.
Clean
cooking and energy access are two important initiatives aimed at addressing
Africa’s energy poverty and overall contribution to the continent’s sustainable
development agenda.
“Africa’s energy poverty is well documented; it is for this
reason that our leaders under the auspices of the African Union, endorsed and
declared Mission 300 and Clean Cooking initiatives as flagship programmes to
transform the continent from its current state of energy poverty. We need to
find a way of ensuring this agenda is embraced by all of us.
“As we are aware, our energy poverty impacts several
social-economic sectors such as health, agriculture, manufacturing, and even
adaptation to climate change impacts. We must therefore not shy away from
highlighting and embedding into negotiations, key initiatives that we are
undertaking as a continent for sustainable development and in support of global
climate action,” highlighted Dr. Muyungi.
Mission
300 is a joint initiative by the World Bank Group and the African Development
Bank Group to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030, while the
Clean Cooking Project aims to transform the clean cooking sector by enhancing
private sector participation and increasing access to affordable clean cooking
solutions, particularly in underserved areas.
The
two initiatives, spearheaded by the President of the United Republic of
Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan, were in February, 2025, endorsed and declared as
African union flagship programmes on clean energy access.
“At
our Strategic meeting in Zanzibar in April, we resolved to ensure these two
important initiatives are embedded in the Just transition and Mitigation work
programmes, as guided by our Heads of State guidance in February,” added the
AGN Chair.
Additional priority areas
1. Finalizing Africa’s approach
towards the new round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs 3.0),
ensuring they are ambitious, equitable, and supported by adequate means of
implementation;
2. Securing clarity and
operationalization of the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance,
building upon AU and CAHOSCC relevant guiding decisions and the "Baku to
Belém Roadmap to 1.3 trillion USD by 2035";
3. Ensuring decisive progress on
adaptation, including the adoption of robust indicators under the Global Goal
on Adaptation, and tangible progress on National Adaptation Plans;
4. Defending Africa’s equity-centered
positions in the evolving global climate governance, particularly in loss and
damage, technology transfer, just transition work programmes, and transparency
frameworks; and
5. Reaffirming that Africa’s natural
wealth presents a transformative opportunity to drive global climate change
mitigation while catalysing inclusive, sustainable economic growth across the
continent, with particular attention to how Africa’s natural wealth could
enable Africa to leapfrog into a low-carbon future while contributing
meaningfully to global emissions reductions.