The landmark summit in Nairobi ended with a declaration that will form the basis of Africa's negotiating position at November's COP28 Summit.
World leaders are now set to converge in the United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 12 this year for COP28 Summit, about a year after the COP 27, which was held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh.
The meeting in Egypt closed with a breakthrough agreement to provide loss and damage funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by floods, droughts and other climate disasters. It was widely lauded as an historic decision.
Countries recognised the need for finance to respond to loss and damage associated with the catastrophic effects of climate change, and agreed to the establishing of a fund and the necessary funding arrangements.
A ‘transitional committee’ was to make recommendations on how to make operational both the new funding arrangements and the fund for consideration and adoption at COP28.
The decision made in Egypt, known as the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan, said that a global transformation to a low-carbon economy is expected to require investments of at least US$6 trillion a year.
In Nairobi, governments and private investors committed billions of dollars to green initiatives, including a $4.5 billion (Sh650 billion) pledge by November's COP28 hosts, UAE.
About Sh4 trillion was pledged for green growth, mitigation and adaptation efforts across the continent after the three-day summit.
Agreed upon unanimously by leaders at the three-day summit, the Nairobi Declaration calls on the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases and rich countries to keep their promises.
The leaders of the continent of 1.3 billion people said an unfilled pledge of $100 billion (Sh1.46 trillion) in annual climate finance to developing nations made 14 years ago.
“This declaration will serve as a basis for Africa's common position in the global climate change process," President William Ruto, the host of the meeting, said.
Despite suffering from some of the worst impacts of climate change, Africa only receives about 12 per cent of the financing it needs to cope, according to researchers.
Even as leaders committed to the resolve, activists and communities from across Africa held a meeting parallel to summit and termed the Nairobi Declaration as disappointing.
According to the United Nations, the continent contributes only about two to three percent of global emissions but suffers the most from the changing climate.
The declaration seeks to reform a global financial system that forces African nations to pay more to borrow money.
It also calls for the continent's vast mineral wealth to be harvested and processed in Africa.
The Nairobi meeting further called for an increase in Africa's renewable energy capacity from 56 GW in 2022 to at least 300 GW by 2030.
"This ambitious target not only addresses energy poverty but also contributes to global clean energy supply," Moussa Faki, the African Union Commission, chairperson said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said renewable energy could be the African miracle which must be made to happen.
“We must all work together for Africa to become a renewable energy superpower,” he said.
Ruto pushed for Africa’s switch to clean energy even as the continent reels from climate-related disasters.
“Unlocking the renewable energy resources that we have in our continent is not only good for Africa, it is good for the rest of the world,” he said.
However, David Otieno from Kenya Peasants League said the Nairobi "Declaration [at the African Climate Summit] was underwhelming and inadequate for Africa."
Speaking to the Star, Otieno said declaration described the African context but did not provide solutions to the climate crisis.
Mohamed Adow, founding director of Nairobi-based think tank, Power Shift Africa, said the first African Climate Summit ended with Global North interference but awakened African grassroots.
“We had hoped this first African Climate Summit would see a radical vision for Africa, but the final declaration was disappointingly similar to previous summits that produced inadequate results,” he said.
Adow said Africa should forge a different path, embracing Pan-African solidarity, putting people before profit and harness its unique position in history and vast renewable energy potential.
Mary Afan from Small Holder farmers Nigeria said “the outcome of the summit may be disappointing, but we are not agonising about the result, we’re organising. We are mobilising for a long-term fight and our leaders won’t be able to ignore us.”
Hardi Yakubu from Tanzania-based Africans Rising said Africa should not allow strategic resources to be captured while communities are left behind.
“Africa’s critical minerals are the next battleground. We are already seeing elite interests in foreign governments, big companies and even our own ministries work to capture these resources,” he said.
The activists, who came together as Africa People's Climate Assembly, said the Africa Climate Summit lacked legitimacy and shows no indication of addressing the real and worsening climate crisis.
Africa People's Climate Assembly brought together, farmers, fisher folks, hunters and gathers, civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations, grassroots movements, indigenous communities, artists, youth activists, faith leaders, academics and think tanks.
The group came together not only to protest the summit's supposed disregard of the interests and voices of the African people, but also to provide an alternative to share experiences and provide solutions for real climate action.
Even as the climate crisis becomes more serious and more obvious, the activists said there seems to be hesitation making decisive and comprehensive action.
They said more public policies have been put in place in the last dozen years to increase energy efficiency, cut down on deforestation rates and put renewable energy into action faster but the implications and consequences of climate change remain dire
They said that carbon markets, in which polluters effectively offset emissions by investing in tree planting or conservation initiatives, are cheaper to purchase in Africa than in many other parts of the world where schemes are more strictly regulated.
Adow said Western interference was widely seen in the lead up to the Nairobi meeting.
“US climate envoy John Kerry and the US’s lead negotiator for COP28, Trigg Talley, were in town. But this was not a UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] negotiation, so what were they doing here?” he said.
He added that countries and companies from the Global North have promised huge funding to set up carbon markets in Africa, but it is polluting firms, fossil fuel giants and credit brokers that will benefit the most from the schemes, while land is stolen from communities.
“Carbon credits are really ‘pollution permits’ to allow rich polluting companies to continue business as usual without really decarbonising their businesses,” he said.
Otieno said the Nairobi pronouncement was “a clear repetition of past declarations.”
“The language needs to be looked at because it will undermine past and present wins," the activist said.
He however hailed the declaration for pushing for the Loss and Damage Fund to become operational.
