Addis declaration: Africa sharpens its demands on global climate stage

Africa has stopped asking. In Addis Ababa, leaders declared that the continent will no longer wait for external blueprints or piecemeal aid.

With over $100 billion in African finance already pledged to green industrialisation, and a target of 300 gigawatts of renewable power by 2030, the Addis Ababa Declaration reframes Africa not as a victim of climate change but as a hub of solutions.

“We show the world we are not applicants, but investment partners,” said Wamkele Mene, head of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat. His words captured the shift: Africa is positioning itself as the global supplier of renewable energy, climate-smart industries, and transition minerals.

Mohamed Adow of Power Shift Africa called the Africa Green Industrialisation Initiative “the most ambitious effort yet to turn our energy and resource wealth into engines of climate-smart growth.”

The summit closed with $150 billion in homegrown commitments, including $50 billion through the new Africa Climate Innovation Compact and Africa Climate Facility, and $100 billion from African development banks and financial institutions.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced Ethiopia’s proposal for an African Climate Innovation Compact to deliver “1,000 African solutions” by 2030, uniting universities, startups, and rural communities to drive change. Ethiopia also offered to host COP32 in 2027.

“By mobilising African capital first, we change the dynamic,” Mene said. “Africa is not waiting. We are architects of our own green future.”

The Addis Declaration expands on Nairobi’s 2023 vision by tying energy directly to industrialisation. Leaders endorsed the Africa Green Minerals Strategy (AGMS) to end the extract-and-export model. With vast reserves of cobalt, lithium, and rare earths, Africa is moving to refine and manufacture locally.

“Our ambition is not just 300 GW of power, but 300 GW driving African factories and value chains,” Adow said, linking renewables to new industries from batteries to green steel.

Ethiopia’s President underscored the new tone: “Africa is not a passive recipient of climate solutions. We are, and must be, the architects of them.”

Finance was placed at the very top of the Addis Declaration. Leaders demanded over $3 trillion by 2030, with grants—not loans. Between 2021 and 2022, Africa received only $30 billion, just 1% of what is needed.

The declaration framed climate finance as a legal obligation, not charity, citing Article 9 of the Paris Agreement. It also tied finance to global debt and tax reforms, areas where Africa has already made gains at the UN.

“We called for a reformed global climate finance architecture that is just, equitable, and attuned to Africa’s realities,” Ethiopia’s President Taye Atske Selassie said. “Climate finance must be a path to sovereignty, not servitude.”

Omar El Mawji of the EMEA Initiative noted that the declaration “puts finance at the very beginning,” framing debt and tax reform as inseparable from climate justice.

The Addis Declaration also highlighted food systems, linking agriculture to sovereignty. Leaders said Africa needs $579 billion by 2030 for adaptation alone.

Civil society demanded that smallholder farmers, especially women, be central. “Grants must go directly to national funds that reach farmers, not through layers of bureaucracy,” said Iskander Erzini Vernoit, founding director of the Imal Initiative for Climate & Development.

The declaration committed to implementing the Kampala Declaration on resilient agrifood systems. Leaders stressed that adaptation finance must be scaled up urgently, not delayed to future decades.

Despite its ambition, the declaration left a loophole for fossil gas under “transitional fuels.” Civil society groups warned this risks locking Africa into debt and stranded assets.

“A path grounded on fossil gas is not just. It traps us in cycles of inequality and dependence,” said Dean Bhekumuzi Bhebhe, senior advisor at Power Shift Africa, citing the failed gas booms in Mozambique and Nigeria.

Carbon markets were also contested. While the declaration framed them as tools for sustainable development, critics argued they displace communities. “Carbon markets are a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They provide financing, but not justice,” Bhebhe warned.

Workers’ groups welcomed references to jobs but warned about quality. “We must speak about green, decent, and quality jobs. Otherwise, we risk creating employment that does not provide dignity or social protection,” said Rhoda Boateng of Climate Change, Just Transition & Occupational Health and Safety.

They urged leaders to embed social dialogue so workers, employers, and governments all have a seat in shaping the transition.

The People’s Assembly, held alongside the summit, issued its own declaration, bringing together farmers, indigenous groups, youth, and people with disabilities.

“We are happy to see our priorities reflected,” Vernoit said. “But we insist solutions must be African-made and people-centered. Global impositions like geoengineering have no place here.”

This bottom-up input marked a shift from Nairobi 2023, where civil society felt sidelined. In Addis, their voices influenced the final text, though gaps remain.

The Addis Ababa Declaration is not an end but a blueprint for Belém, Brazil. Leaders made clear that Africa will arrive at COP30 with a united stance on finance, industrialisation, and adaptation.

“The real significance of this summit lies in Africa moving forward into COP30 with a clearer, united message. Climate finance is the critical enabler,” said Wafa Misrar, Campaigns and Policy Lead at CAN-Africa.

Kenya’s climate envoy Ali Mohamed described Addis as “a demonstration beyond doubt that Africa is leading on the global climate agenda even at a time when the world risks backsliding.”

Selwin Hart, UN climate adviser, was blunt: “Africa has the resources, the markets, the people, and the solutions. This is the opportunity of our time.”

The Addis Declaration is bold. It sets hard numbers: $150 billion mobilised at home, $3 trillion demanded abroad, 300 GW of clean power, and 1,000 African solutions. It reframes Africa from victim to actor, from applicant to partner.

But it is fragile. Loopholes on fossil gas and carbon markets could weaken its promise. Delivery will depend on whether Africa’s internal pledges translate into real projects, and whether the Global North treats the declaration as binding, not aspirational.

As Adow concluded: “Africa is ready to lead. The question is whether the rest of the world is ready to follow.”