PREAMBLE
We, the African Heads of State and
Government, gathered for the inaugural Africa Climate Summit (ACS) in Nairobi,
Kenya, from 4th to 6th September 2023; in
the presence of other global leaders, intergovernmental organizations, Regional
Economic Communities, United Nations Agencies, private sector, civil society
organizations, indigenous peoples, local communities, farmer organizations, children,
youth, women and academia, hereby:
1. Recall,
the Assembly Decisions (AU/Dec.723(XXXII), AU/Dec.764 (XXXIII) and
AU/Dec.855(XXXVI)) requesting the African Union Commission
to organize an African
Climate Summit and endorsing the offer by the Republic of
Kenya to host the Summit;
2. Commend
the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change
(CAHOSCC) under the Leadership of H.E. President William Ruto for providing a
unified approach and political leadership on an African vision that
simultaneously pursues climate change and development agenda;
3. Commend
the Arab Republic of Egypt for the successful COP27 and its historic outcomes,
particularly regarding loss and damage, just transition and energy, and call
for the full implementation of all COP27 decisions
4. Take
Note of the 6th Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC), stating that the world is not on track to keeping within
reach the 1.5°C limit agreed in Paris and that global emissions must be cut by
43% in this decade;
5. Underscore
the IPCC confirmation that Africa is warming faster than the rest of the world
and, if unabated, climate change will continue to have adverse impacts on African
economies and societies, and hamper growth and wellbeing;
6. Express
concern that many African countries face disproportionate burdens and risks
arising from climate change-related, unpredictable weather events and patterns,
including prolonged droughts, devastating floods, wildfires, which cause
massive humanitarian crisis with detrimental impacts on economies, health,
education, peace and security, among other risks;
7. Acknowledge
that climate change is the single greatest challenge facing humanity and the
single biggest threat to all life on Earth. It demands urgent and concerted
action from all nations to lower emissions and reduce the concentration of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere;
8. Recognise
that Africa is not historically responsible for global warming, but bears the
brunt of its effect, impacting lives, livelihoods, and economies;
9. Reaffirm the principles set out in the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement, namely
equity, common but
differentiated
responsibilities and respective capabilities,
10. Recall that
only seven years remain to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the
2030 Agenda, and note with concern that 600 million people in Africa still lack
access to electricity while 970 million lack access to clean cooking;
11. Concerned that despite Africa having an estimated 40
percent of the world’s renewable energy resources, only $60 billion or two
percent of US$3 trillion renewable energy investments in the last decade have
come to Africa,
12. Further
recognise that African cities and urban centres are growing rapidly, and by
2050 would be home to over 1.0 billion people.
Cognisant of the fact that rapid urbanization, poverty, and inequality
limit planning capacities and other urban dynamics which increase people’s
exposure and vulnerability to hazards and have thus turned cities into disaster
hotspots across the continent.
13. Emphasise
that Africa possesses both the potential and the ambition to be a vital
component of the global solution to climate change. As home to the world’s youngest
and fastest-growing workforce, coupled with massive untapped renewable energy
potential, abundant natural assets and entrepreneurial spirit, our continent
has the fundamentals to spearhead a climate compatible pathway as a thriving,
costcompetitive industrial hub with the capacity to support other regions in
achieving their net zero ambitions.
14. Reiterate Africa’s readiness to create an enabling
environment, enact policies and facilitate investments necessary to unlock
resources to meet our own climate commitments, and contribute meaningfully to
decarbonisation of the global economy.
15. Recognize the important role of forests in Africa, in
particular the Congo Basin rainforest in regulating global climate change
16. Further
recognize the critical importance of the oceans in climate action and
commitments made on ocean sustainability in multiple fora such as the Second UN
Oceans Conference in 2022, and the Moroni Declaration for Ocean and Climate
Action in Africa in 2023
Collective action
needed.
17. We
call upon the global community to act with urgency in reducing emissions,
fulfilling its obligations, keeping past promises, and supporting the continent
in addressing climate change, specifically to:
i) Accelerate
all efforts to reduce emissions to align with goals set forth in the Paris
Agreement ii) Honor the commitment to provide $100
billion in annual climate finance, as promised 14 years ago at the Copenhagen
conference. iii) Uphold commitments to a fair and accelerated process of phasing
down coal, and abolishment of all fossil fuel subsidies.
18. We
call for climate-positive investments that catalyse a growth trajectory,
anchored in the industries poised to transform our planet and enable African
countries to achieve stable middle-income status by 2050.
19. We
urge global leaders to join us in seizing this unprecedented opportunity to
accelerate global decarbonization, while pursuing equality and shared
prosperity;
20. We call for
the operationalization of the Loss & Damage fund as agreed at COP27 and
resolve for a measurable Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) with indicators and
targets to enable assessment of progress against negative impacts of climate
change
We commit to:
21. Developing
and implementing policies, regulations and incentives aimed at attracting
local, regional and global investment in green growth and inclusive economies;
22. Propelling
Africa's economic growth and job creation in a manner that limits our own
emissions and also aids global decarbonization efforts, by leapfrogging
traditional industrial development and fostering green production and supply
chains on a global scale;
23. Focusing
our economic development plans on climate-positive growth, including expansion
of just energy transitions and renewable energy generation for industrial activity,
climate smart and restorative agricultural practices, and essential protection
and enhancement of nature and biodiversity;
24. Strengthening
actions to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, deforestation, desertification,
as well to restore degraded lands to achieve land degradation neutrality;
25. Strengthening
continental collaboration, which is essential to enabling and advancing green
growth, including but not limited to regional and continental grid
interconnectivity, and further accelerating the operationalization of the
Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement;
26. Advancing
green industrialization across the Continent by prioritizing energy-intense
industries to trigger a virtuous cycle of renewable energy deployment and
economic activity, with a special emphasis on adding value to Africa's natural
endowments;
27. Redoubling
our efforts to boost agricultural yields through sustainable agricultural
practices, to enhance food security while minimizing negative environmental
impacts;
28. Taking the
lead in the development of global standards, metrics, and market mechanisms to
accurately value and compensate for the protection of nature, biodiversity,
socio-economic co-benefits, and the provision of climate services;
29. Finalising
and implementing the African Union Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, with
the view to realizing the 2050 vision of living in harmony with nature;
30. Providing
all the necessary reforms and support required to raise the share of renewable
energy financing to at least 20 percent by by 2030.
31. Integrating
climate, biodiversity and ocean agendas into national plans and processes in
order to ensure their contribution to sustainable development, livelihoods and
sustainability objectives, and to increase the resilience of local communities,
coastal areas and national economies;
32. Supporting
smallholder farmers, indigenous peoples, and local communities in the green
economic transition given their key role in ecosystems stewardship;
33. Identifying,
prioritizing and mainstreaming adaptation into development policymaking and
planning, including in the context of national plans and Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs);
34. Building
effective partnership between Africa and other regions, to meet the needs for
financial, technical and technological support, and knowledge sharing for
climate change adaptation;
35. Promoting
investments in urban infrastructure including through upgrading informal
settlements and slum areas to build climate resilient cities and urban
centres.
36. Strengthening
early warning systems and climate information services, as well as taking early
action to protect lives, livelihoods and assets and inform long-term
decisionmaking related to climate change risks. We emphasise the importance of
embracing indigenous knowledge and citizen science in both adaptation
strategies and early warning systems;
37. Enhancing
drought resilience systems to shift from crisis management to proactive drought
preparedness and adaptation, to significantly reduce drought vulnerability of
people, economic activities, and ecosystems
38. Accelerating
implementation of the African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development
Strategy and Action Plan (2022-2032)
CALL TO ACTION
39. Call upon
world leaders to appreciate that decarbonizing the global economy is also an
opportunity to contribute to equality and shared prosperity;
40. Invite
Development Partners from both the global south and north to align and
coordinate their technical and financial resources directed toward Africa to
promote sustainable utilization of Africa’s natural assets for the continent’s
progression toward low carbon development, and contributing to global
decarbonization;
41. To
accomplish this vision of economic transformation in harmony with our climate
needs, we call upon the international community to contribute to the following:
i) Increasing
Africa’s renewable generation capacity from 56 GW in 2022 to at least 300 GW by
2030, both to address energy poverty and to bolster the global supply of
cost-effective clean energy for industry;
ii) Shifting
the energy intensive primary processing of Africa’s raw material exports to the
continent, also to serve as an anchor demand for our renewable energy and a
means of rapidly reducing global emissions;
iii) Call
for access to and transfer of environmentally sound technologies, including
technologies that consist of processes and innovation methods to support
Africa’s green industrialisation and transition.
iv) Designing
global and regional trade mechanisms in a manner that enables products from
Africa to compete on fair and equitable terms;
v) Request
that trade-related environmental tariffs and non-tariff barriers must be
subject to multilateral discussions and agreements and not be unilateral,
arbitrary or discriminatory measures;
vi) Accelerating
efforts to decarbonize the transport, industrial and electricity sectors
through the use of smart, digital and highly efficient technologies and
systems.
vii) Designing
industry policies that incentivize global investment to locations that offer
the most and substantial climate benefits, while ensuring benefits for local
communities;
viii) Implementing
a mix of measures that elevate Africa share of carbon markets.
42. Reiterate
the decision 31/ COP27 that a global transformation to a low-carbon economy is
expected to require investment of at least USD 4–6 trillion per year and
delivering such funding in turn requires a transformation of the financial
system and its structures and processes, engaging governments, central banks,
commercial banks, institutional investors and other financial actors.
43. We call for
collective global action to mobilise the necessary capital for both development
and climate action, echoing the statement of the Paris Summit for a New Global
Financing Pact that no country should ever have to choose between development
aspirations and climate action.
44. Call for
concrete time bound action on the proposals to reform the multilateral
financial system currently under discussion specifically to:
i. build
resilience to climate shocks, including better deployment of the SDR liquidity
mechanism and disaster suspension clauses. We propose for consideration a new
SDR issue for climate crisis response of at least the same magnitude as the
Covid19 issue ($650b);
ii. better
leveraging of the balance sheets of MDBs to scale up concessional finance to at
least $500b per year;
iii. Measures
to improve debt management, including:
a.
the inclusion of ‘debt pause clauses’, and
b.
the proposed expert review of the Common Framework and
the
Debt
Sustainability Analysis
iv. New debt relief interventions and
instruments to pre-empt debt default
– with the
ability to
a. extend
sovereign debt tenor, and
b. include
a 10-year grace period
v. Decisive
action on the Promotion of inclusive and effective international tax
cooperation at the United Nations (Resolution A/C.2/77/L.11/REV.1)– with the
aim to reduce Africa’s loss of $ 27 billion annual corporate tax revenue
through profit shifting, by at least 50% by 2030 and 75% by 2050
vi. Additional
measures to crowd in and de-risk private capital, such as blended finance
instruments, purchase commitments, partial foreign exchange (FX) guarantee
industrial policy collaboration, which should be informed by the risks that
drive lack of private capital deployment at scale;
vii. Redesign
of the MDB governance, to ensure a “fit for purpose” system with appropriate
representation, voice, and agency of all countries
45. Note that
multilateral finance reform is necessary but not sufficient to provide the
scale of climate financing the world needs to achieve 45 percent emission
reduction by 2030 required to meet the Paris Agreement, without which keeping
global warming to 1.5% will be in serious jeopardy. Further note that the scale of financing
required to unlock Africa’s climate-positive growth is beyond the borrowing
capacity of national balance sheets, or at the risk premium that Africa is
currently paying for private capital
46. Draw
attention to the finding that inordinate borrowing costs, typically 5 to 8
times what wealthy countries pay (the “great financial divide”), are a root
cause of recurring developing country debt crisis and an impediment to
investment in development and climate action. We call for adoption of
principles of responsible sovereign lending and accountability encompassing
credit rating, risk analysis and debt sustainability assessment frameworks and
urge the financial markets to commit to reduce this disparity by at least 50%
i.e from 5%-8% to 2.5 – 4.0% by 2025.
47. Urge world
leaders to rally behind the proposal for a global carbon taxation regime
including a carbon tax on fossil fuel trade, maritime transport and aviation,
that may also be augmented by a global financial transaction tax (FTT)) to
provide dedicated, affordable, and accessible finance for climate-positive
investments at scale, and ringfencing of these resources and decision-making
from undue influence from geopolitical and national interests.
48. Propose to
establish a new financing architecture that is responsive to Africa’s needs
including debt restructuring and relief, including the development of a new
Global Climate Finance Charter through UNGA and COP processes by 2025;
49. That the
first Global Stocktake, happening in 2023 at COP28 offers a pivotal opportunity
to correct course by including a comprehensive outcome, both backward and
forward looking".
50.Decide to establish the Africa Climate Summit as a
biennial event convened by African Union and hosted by AU Member States, to set
the continent’s new vision taking into consideration emerging global climate
and development issues;
51. Decide
also that this Declaration will serve as a strong contribution from the African
continent to the global climate change process, COP 28 and beyond;
52. Welcome
the pledges made at the summit by United Arab Emirates (UAE) as COP28 President
and other development partners to support Africa in particular for renewable
energy and Adaptation
53. Appreciate
the efforts of UAE as the COP28 President-Designate in the preparation of
COP28, and affirm Africa’s full support for a successful and ambitious outcome
of
COP28
54. Request
African Union Commission to develop an implementation framework and roadmap for
this Declaration and to make Climate Change an AU theme for the Year 2025 or
2026.
ADOPTED by African
Heads of State and Government in the presence of global leaders and high-level
representatives on 6 September 2023 in Nairobi Kenya.
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