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.”