Here’s what African negotiators want from COP 29 climate negotiations

In a key preparatory meeting in Nairobi earlier this month, the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change hammered out their priorities for the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 29, ranging from securing a substantial increase in climate finance to ensuring adaptation and loss and damage receive equal footing with mitigation efforts. The UNFCCC Africa Group of Negotiators meeting, which brought together experts and negotiators from across the continent from Aug. 12-16, will culminate in the development of Africa's official position paper for COP 29. Speaking during the meeting’s opening, Kenyan Minister for Environment Aden Duale said that climate finance flows to the continent were insufficient; adaptation, loss, and damage have been overshadowed by mitigation; and that as countries are building momentum toward a new set of nationally determined contributions, the African continent has not received sufficient financial and technical support to effectively implement, track, and report on their current NDCs. Key priorities identified include: 1. Fighting for a new collective climate finance goal well beyond the previous $100 billion target. 2. Elevating adaptation and addressing loss and damage as central issues. 3. Ensuring the operationalization of international carbon market mechanisms under the Paris Agreement. Following the meeting, the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) “will then submit [the priorities] to the ministers who will review and submit to the heads of state for comments and consideration and then we can … say we have a common position,” said Ali Mohamed, the chairman of the AGN. Increase of climate finance According to Mohamed, climate finance is the main priority. It is hoped that a fair and ambitious goal will be negotiated to enable low- and middle-income countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. The new collective quantified goal on climate finance, or NCQG, is meant to be adopted this year at COP 29 in Azerbaijan. “We need to move from the previous goal of $100 billion made in 2009 in Copenhagen to a new goal. That has to be an agreed position. We as Africa Group have made submissions and others have made submissions too. And given the impact of climate change, any figure lower than $100 billion is no longer viable,” he said. Mohamed said that Africa is the only continent spending 5% of its gross domestic product to respond to the effects of climate change. In comparison, Kenya spent 4.5% of its GDP on health in 2021, and an equivalent of 4.076% of its GDP on education. “In Kenya, we just lost a significant amount of infrastructure in the recent floods and we lost so much livelihoods in the prolonged drought before that. And yet we have to use our collected revenue that was supposed to be for development to address these impacts which we have no hand in,” he said. The preparatory meetings came two months after the Bonn Climate Change Conference, the midway climate talks in the lead-up to COP 29 — which were deemed a failure in some quarters. Care Climate Justice Center, the unit that leads and coordinates the integration of climate justice and resilience across CARE’s development and humanitarian work, described it as having come to an end with “disappointing outcomes across the board, with finance negotiations being the deal breaker.” AGN is therefore using the preparatory meetings, along with the upcoming African Ministerial Conference on the Environment and the Committee of African Heads of State on Climate Change next month, to come up with a common position. “AGN is such an important voice in shaping the International Climate Regime under the UNFCCC. It is therefore important for the group to continue to use its strong position and voice to obtain the best possible outcomes for the people of Africa,” said Seif Hamisi, the East Africa Director at Conservation International. Iskander Erzini Vernoit, director at IMAL Initiative for Climate & Development, a think-tank based in Morocco, said that a massive scaling in climate finance is long overdue for Africa and the global south — trillions are needed, according to him. “Based on the mandate from COP21 in Paris, COP29 in Baku must agree to a New Collective Goal on Climate Finance to replace the $100bn per year goal put forward in Copenhagen. As such, COP29 is the last best moment for a course correct during this critical decade, to avert catastrophic interference in the climate system,” he said. Adaptation, loss, and damage According to Kenya’s Duale, adaptation, loss, and damage are another priority for Africa as climate impacts worsen. “COP 29 is a pivotal opportunity to prioritize adaptation and loss and damage and secure the necessary financial and technical assistance to close the adaptation finance gap,” he said. For Mohamed, as per the Paris Agreement, there must be parity between adaptation and mitigation. “That is what we continue pushing as Africa,” he said. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the implementation of low- and middle-income countries' adaptation objectives in their national plans — NDCs and national adaptation plans — will require almost $400 billion per year. Vernoit said that finance must be secured for the delivery of the Global Goal on Adaptation. “There is a strong argument that Africa and other developing countries should not have to pay these costs of a crisis which they did not create. At COP29, the New Collective Quantified Goal can be established in a way that secures dedicated adaptation finance to meet these needs,” he said. With the securing of financing for adaptation, Vernoit said that the achievement of a just energy transition will help ensure LMICs are not left behind as the world transitions to a green economy, and are able to move away from fossil fuel dependencies which may compromise the competitiveness of their exports. International carbon markets Another priority area that was discussed by the negotiators is international carbon markets. El Hadji Mbaye Diagne, the AGN’s lead negotiator for carbon markets, said that Africa seeks urgent operationalization of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement by next year. This article establishes a framework for countries to cooperate in achieving their climate change mitigation goals. It allows for the use of cooperative approaches like carbon trading and emissions reduction projects to help countries meet their emissions targets. “We want the different mechanisms under Article 6 to be operational by early next year. We need a decision on Article 6.2 as well as on Article 6.4 in Baku to allow those mechanisms to be operational and see the different actors starting to develop real projects on the ground,” he said. Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement covers the international transfer of mitigation outcomes. Mitigation outcomes refer to the reduction or removal of carbon units representing greenhouse gas emissions. It involves guidance to be followed in relation to the transfer of international mitigation outcomes. It includes “all the rules, all the requirements that participating entities need to follow when doing this type of transfer to ensure environmental integrity, transparency as well as avoiding double counting,” he said. Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement is the centralized mechanism under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change where one can submit a project for registration as a carbon reduction project. “You implement your project, get your project … verified, and deliver real and credible emission reduction certified by UNFCCC which you can use for international transfer as well as domestically,” he said. With this mechanism, Diagne envisions a situation whereby host countries authorize carbon units. In the past, any carbon offset project participant could develop their project in Africa and sell the units abroad without getting authorization and without the involvement of the government. “Now with the Paris agreement and mainly the Article 6 of the Paris agreement, for units to be used for compliance they need to get the authorization of the host country,” he said. Where to from here These points will be part of the common position drafted by AGN in Nairobi. The next stop is Côte D’Ivoire, where the African Ministerial Conference of Environment will be held. Thereafter, it will be presented to the African heads of state and governments under the auspices of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change for adoption in readiness for COP 29.