Bonn Climate Talks: Africa has eyes on $1.3 trillion climate finance roadmap

Many developing countries, particularly in Africa, are proposing more ambitious climate targets as they prepare to submit their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the UNFCCC in September.

 

However, a recurring challenge persists. Countries lack sufficient financing to implement climate action at the scale required, as international financial support has not been fully realized.

 

More than 70% of African climate commitments are conditional – they rely on external finance to be realized. Without tangible funding commitments from developed countries, these NDCs risk remaining aspirational rather than actionable.

 

The African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN) is therefore concerned about the ongoing UN Climate Conference in Bonn, Germany, delivering on climate finance.

 

During COP 26, rich countries pledged to double the amount of adaptation financing they provide by 2025 compared to 2018. At COP 30, the question of whether this has been met will be crucial.

 

The Bonn negotiations present a special moment to set an ambitious expectation of adaptation finance for the UN climate talks in Brazil later this year.  

 

AGN Chair, Dr. Richard Muyungi, says going back to the $1.3trillion climate finance deliverable is critical, taking into account both the historic imbalances and urgent development and resource needs.

 

“We need resources because impacts are increasing; we need resources because we are committed to work with the international community and we can’t do that without resources on the ground. Therefore, for us the realization of the $1.3trillion roadmap is very important,” he emphasized at a press conference in Bonn.

 

The delivery of the Just Transition – a shift towards low carbon climate resilient economies – is another essential area of interest to the AGN.

 

Dr. Muyungi believes the Just Transition is a transformative approach with inherent opportunities in the shift, but the AGN is also looking at the prioritizing issues that impact on the daily lives of people in Africa, including connectivity and energy security and clean cooking and impacts on women and children.

 

“We do understand that is not an easy task; it is not just a negotiating process, but a life transforming process. The Just Transition pathways must be informed by the realities of Africa on the ground, they must be informed by the needs and what Africa contributes to the just transition,” he stated.

 

The mid-year UN climate talks kicked off in Bonn amid an increase in climate impacts globally, yet many of the world’s biggest polluters have not submitted their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). In response, African countries are calling on big emitters to submit ambitious emissions reduction plans to achieve the 1.5°C temperature goals.

 

In this year’s conference, the COP Presidencies of Azerbaijan and Brazil will jumpstart discussions between countries on delivering the $1.3 trillion goal. The roadmap offers the opportunity to address finance questions that went unanswered at COP 29.

 

African countries have continually emphasized the need for grants for adaptation and loss and damage, and concessional finance for the just transition.

 

As negotiators get to work, COP30 President, André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, has prevailed on governments to deliver on what they agreed to do under the Global Stocktake.

 

by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Climate action ideals waning a major global talks?

When the richest countries in the world met at the 50^th G7 leaders’ summit in Alberta, Canada, climate action was not a priority on their agenda. 

 

But in a crucial time to raise ambition to avert a climate catastrophe, these countries are expected to be leading the phase out of fossil fuels and the transition to renewable energy, which would lead to more prosperity, cleaner air and reliable energy.

 

Civil society organization, 350.org, has expressed disappointment at the lack of climate leadership, urgency and ambition from world leaders.

 

“European leaders arrived at the G7 with plans to build more nuclear and expand fossil gas, pushing LNG not to solve the climate crisis, but to score points in trade relations with Trump. Europe claims climate leadership, but backing more gas infrastructure in a year of record heat and extreme weather is reckless. This summit should be about figuring out how to phase out fossil fuels and triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 — not climate hypocrisy,” said Nicolò Wojewoda, Europe Regional Director, 350.org.

 

The G7 includes the most polluting countries and some of the largest fossil fuel expanders, Canada and the United States. These nations bear the historic responsibility to contribute climate finance to the tune of $1.3 trillion annually in non-debt-creating support for Global South nations. 

 

Bonn meeting and climate emergency

 

On the road to COP30 in Brazil, the mid-year UN climate talks opened in Bonn, Germany, to advance key negotiations, with UN climate chief, Simon Stiell, pleading that “we need to demonstrate to the world that climate cooperation can deliver - now more than ever.”

 

According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Africa has suffered annual losses of $7 billion due to climate change between 2010 and 2019. This figure could rise to $50 billion by 2040 if the high-emissions scenarios continue, and could cause a 2-4% reduction in Africa's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth per year by 2040, and a 10-25% reduction by 2100.

 

It's therefore crucial to provide urgent finance specifically dedicated to adaptation, loss and damage to help countries prepare for future displacement, livelihood disruption, and losses.

 

At the Bonn Climate Talks, the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN) 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,” said Chair of AGN, Dr. Richard Muyungi.

 

Africa climate aspirations

 

Ahead of the 62^nd session of the UN Climate Change Subsidiary Bodies (SB62) in Bonn, the AGN emphasized the importance and power of Africa’s unity in global negotiations.

 

African civil society, under the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), has also reminded negotiators, observers, and Parties that the outcomes of this conference must reflect the lived realities, aspirations, and urgent needs of the world’s most climate-vulnerable continent.

 

In this regard, Africa’s voice must shape the direction of global climate discussions and action.

 

A few days into talks, PACJA has been alarmed by the sluggish pinto of proceedings and delays in adopting the agenda.

 

“This signals the beginning of yet another manoeuvre orchestrated by developed country partners to keep the frontline communities in Africa and other vulnerable countries under the bondage of the climate crisis,” said PACJA.

 

The first day of the negotiations ended without agreement on the agenda particularly because parties could not agree on the most crucial matter – climate finance – with special reference on article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement which is clear on the obligation of the developed country partners in providing resources to developing countries for climate action.

 

“We reiterate that negotiations in Bonn this year must reflect the urgency in dealing with the ever-elusive question of financing climate action,” said PACJA.

 

Ahead of COP30 in Brazil, groups like the G7 are expected to seize the opportunity to reinforce their climate commitments, ensuring the vulnerable can access the right support to adapt to the realities of climate change.

 

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

UN Bonn Climate Meetings set to begin on 16 June

The UN June Climate Meetings – formally called the 62^nd session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB62) – start on Monday 16 June at the World Conference Center Bonn (WCCB) in Bonn, Germany, where UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) is headquartered.

 

Building on the progress achieved at the COP29 UN Climate Change Conference in Baku last year, the meetings from 16 to 26 June aim to drive forward progress on key issues and prepare decisions for adoption at the upcoming COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil, in November of this year. 

 

Government delegates and civil society representatives will make up a significant part of the around 5,000 participants expected to attend the meetings.

 

The UN June Climate Meeting in Bonn aims to drive forward progress on key issues and prepares decisions for adoption at the upcoming COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil, in November. 

 

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell will be giving an opening speech on Monday, 16 June at the opening plenary to set the scene for the June Climate Meetings.

 

Climate Change: AGN Chair emphasises importance of Africa’s unity in global negotiations

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 62^nd 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.

 

Clear and strong climate policies are antidote to economic uncertainty – UN Climate Chief

Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, Simon Stiell, says clear and strong climate policies are an antidote to trade and economic uncertainty.

 

He believes climate policy can help get trade flowing and economies growing, while preventing wildly destructive climate impacts. 

 

Speaking at the 2025 Nature Summit in Panamá City, Panamá, he noted that a new generation of national climate plans are essential all around the world.

 

He says these plans, when well implemented through the right political leadership, can attract a bonanza of benefits, including more jobs, more revenue and a virtuous cycle of increased investment.

 

“In the past, climate plans have often focused mainly on cuts - cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and to old-fashioned energy. This new generation of climate plans are really about growth. Growing industries and economies. And building a better future. One where nature is protected, and where people have better opportunities,” he stated. 

 

Decarbonization

 

Amid all the crisis and trade disruption, the UN Climate Change chief says there is also good news of clean energy projects in pipelines across the globe.

 

“Investors have their fingers on the button - waiting to push go on multi-billion-dollar commitments that will make lives better,” Simon Stiell.

 

He says the political and policy signals from almost all of the world’s largest economies are very clear: global decarbonization is unstoppable and continues to gather pace and scale. 

 

More than 90% of new energy last year was renewable – from rapid technological advancements in Electric Vehicle charging, to breakthroughs in energy storage, as the costs of wind, solar, and so many more clean technologies keep coming down.  

 

Brazil is putting nature at the heart of their climate plan; Germany is promising to invest billions in climate action to increase security; and China, for the first time, will set a new national climate target that covers every greenhouse gas and sector of the economy. 

 

“This isn’t only because of their better environmental angels. It’s because global decarbonization is the biggest economic transformation of our age, making it one of the biggest commercial opportunities we’ve ever seen,” said Simon Stiell.

 

Cooperation for more prosperity

 

Every country wants to take advantage of a $2 trillion clean energy market, said the UN Climate chief.

 

“While competition is a good thing, now is not the time for zero-sum thinking. We need to work together to ensure that everyone benefits. That new markets open and new trade routes form. 

 

“We simply cannot afford a two-speed transition, where some countries race ahead with clean energy and climate resilience and leave others behind. Because a supply chain is only as strong as its most fragile link.

 

The good news is, we are also hearing loud and clear from heads of state that they remain committed to cooperation on climate. To build on breakthroughs we’ve seen at every recent COP,” Simon Stiell noted. 

 

Panama is hosting the first of the new revamped UN Climate Weeks, focusing on making real-world progress, showcasing solutions and exploring how they can be scaled up and shared.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Climate Change: AGN calls for a ‘Just Transition’ that addresses Africa’s energy poverty

Chair of the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN), Dr. Richard Muyungi, has called for a ‘Just Transition’ that addresses Africa’s energy poverty.

 

Emphasizing the ‘Africa First’ agenda, he said Africa cannot talk about just transition while over 600 million people in Africa are without access to energy and 900 without clean cooking solutions.

 

“It is for this reason that the inclusion of the Clean Cooking agenda, which is being championed by H.E, Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania in the just transition work programme, is key,” he noted.

 

Dr. Muyungi was addressing the first Strategic Meeting of AGN in Zanzibar, under the chairmanship of the United Republic of Tanzania.

 

“I am delighted to note that the African Union, at its last assembly, adopted both the AU declaration on Clean Cooking and the Dar-es-Salaam Declaration on Mission 300 Energy Summit that focuses on providing energy access to at least 300 million people in Africa by 2030. At this meeting, we have resolved to ensure these two important decisions by the AU Assembly are embedded in the Just transition and mitigation work programmes towards Belem and beyond,” added the AGN Chair. 

 

In the context of climate change, a ‘just transition’ refers to a strategy that ensures a fair and equitable transition to a low-carbon economy, minimizing negative impacts on workers and communities while maximizing social and economic opportunities. It aims to balance climate action with social justice, creating decent work, reducing inequalities, and ensuring no one is left behind.

 

At its fourth session, the Conference of Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) decided to establish a work programme on ‘Just Transition’ pathways to advancing the goals of the Paris Agreement.  

 

The decision emphasized that just transition pathways must be based on nationally defined development priorities and include social protection so as to mitigate potential impacts associated with the transition.

 

Other priorities discussed and agreed at the AGN meeting included;

 

-      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;

 

-      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";

 

-      Ensuring decisive progress on adaptation, including the adoption of robust indicators under the Global Goal on Adaptation, and tangible progress on National Adaptation Plans;

 

-      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;

 

-      Reaffirming the critical importance of youth and gender inclusion in advancing an equitable, inclusive, and sustainable climate future for the African continent, recognising that youth and women are not only disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change but are also powerful agents of change and innovation in driving transformative climate action; and

 

-      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 endowment of 60% of the world’s highest-quality solar potential, significant wind, vast hydropower capacity, could enable Africa to leapfrog into a low-carbon future while contributing meaningfully to global emissions reductions.

 

Meanwhile, the AGN Chair reaffirmed the group’s crucial role in technically advising the African Union’s key institutions notably, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and Committee of African Heads of State on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), ensuring that Africa's priorities are consistently, coherently, and effectively articulated within the UNFCCC process and beyond. 

 

“Our Group remains the only technical backbone that sustains Africa’s political decisions on climate change,” said Dr. Muyungi. “It is for this reason that this meeting is designed, among other objectives, to address decisions emanating from the February 2025 CAHOSCC meeting in Addis Ababa, and to provide clear technical advice that will guide the African continent throughout this year towards COP30 and beyond.”

 

Generally, the meeting reaffirmed Africa’s unwavering commitment to a unified, science-driven, and justice-centred approach to climate negotiations, emphasising the centrality of adaptation, climate finance, clean energy access, just transition, and institutional strengthening anchored in mandates from the African Union, AMCEN, and CAHOSCC as essential pillars of Africa’s climate agenda. 

 

"Africa’s adaptation and resilience building must remain at the heart of our conversations, both in Africa and globally. Our countries and communities are on the frontlines of climate impacts—yet we have contributed the least to the crisis. Belem must deliver stronger commitments that prioritize the urgent needs of vulnerable communities, protecting livelihoods, ecosystems, and economies,” said Dr. Mithika Mwenda, Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) Executive Director.

 

He added that “central to this is adaptation finance. It is not enough to promise – finance must flow, and it must be accessible, predictable, adequate and scaled up dramatically. We must demand concrete delivery on the new collective quantified goal on finance. Africa must lead the call for a goal that is not only ambitious but based on real needs, reflecting the scale of the adaptation and mitigation challenges we face.”  

 

UN agrees first-ever global carbon tax on a polluter, but deal fails to address climate finance needs for developing countries

Diplomats at the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) have agreed to the world’s first-ever carbon pricing mechanism applied to a major polluting industry – global shipping.

 

On Friday, 11 April, at IMO headquarters in London, countries voted during the closing plenary to adopt a global framework that will put a carbon price on shipping emissions that will help the industry decarbonise and encourage the use of cleaner technologies.

 

The overall policy is expected to be formally adopted in October 2025, though several technical details remain unresolved.

 

The tax will generate $30–40 billion – about $10 billion annually – in revenues by 2030. The agreement is projected to deliver at best 10% absolute emissions reduction in the shipping sector by 2030 – far short of the IMO’s own targets set in their 2023 revised strategy, which calls for at least a 20% cut by 2030, with a stretch goal of 30%.

 

The funds will be ring-fenced for decarbonizing the maritime sector alone and not go towards climate financing for developing countries. 

"In the end, the best possible outcome was achieved. The shipping industry has taken the lead in showing other hard-to-abate sectors that climate action is possible. African delegations must be commended, including Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, and others who rose to the occasion and supported the compromise,” said Maria Ogbugo, Senior Associate, African Future Policies Hub. “Now that the IMO has agreed on measures that would apply on a global level, it is key that the various regional emissions schemes start seriously considering pulling back on their unilateral measures to avoid multiplicity of schemes piling up layer after layer of costs on African consumers."

 

Starting in 2028, ships will be required either to transition to lower-carbon fuel mixes or pay for the excess emissions they generate. Vessels that continue to burn conventional fossil fuels will face a $380 per tonne fee on the most intensive portion of their emissions, and $100 per tonne on remaining emissions above a certain threshold.

 

The policy, backed by 63 countries including Brazil, China, the EU, South Africa, Kenya, Senegal and Namibia, sets a global precedent: Despite objections from petro-states like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Russia, and Venezuela – who opposed both the substance and the procedure of the agreement – Norway's compromise proposal, as the Chair of the IMO, passed in the final vote.

 

At UN climate talks in Baku in November 2024, countries agreed to a post-2025 $1.3 trillion climate finance deal to support developing countries in the energy transition. Countries are looking to public, private and innovative sources of finance to close the climate finance gap. 

 

Minister Antony Derjacques of the Seychelles said: “The developing countries with the greatest need came here and offered a solution. How can the other major economies ask us to take a weak deal home to our people, who are suffering as a result of the climate crisis? And how can they take it back to their constituents?”

 

The carbon pricing mechanism, based on emissions intensity, will initially allow the use of fossil liquefied natural gas (LNG).

 

However, the regulation will progressively penalize the use of gas by the shipping industry.