AFRICA PUTS ADAPTATION AT THE CENTRE OF ITS COP30 AGENDA

Belem, Brazil, 8 November, 2025—African climate negotiators have placed adaptation at the top of the continent’s priorities for COP30, calling for a major scale-up in global support to address rapidly intensifying climate impacts.

The position was discussed and agreed during the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN) pre-session meeting held in Belem on 6–7 November.

AGN Chair Dr. Richard Muyungi warned that Africa, responsible for less than 4% of global emissions, faces worsening climate shocks that threaten lives, economies, and development progress.

“COP30 must deliver ambitious and just outcomes that strengthen adaptation and protect the most vulnerable,” he said. “We will consider COP30 a failure if it does not deliver an ambitious adaptation decision that resonates with Africa’s climate change impacts and realities,” he added.

Escalating Needs, Widening Financing Gap

According to available data, Africa is already losing an estimated 5–15% of its GDP every year to climate impacts. While the continent requires US$52–88 billion annually by 2030 for adaptation, it currently receives less than US$11 billion, leaving a severe financing gap.

With more than 100 million people already affected—and projections reaching 500 million by 2050—negotiators stressed that adaptation must be treated as a global responsibility.

Key Demands for COP30

At COP30, Africa will seek for:

• Finalisation of means of implementation indicators under the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA);

• A significant increase in adaptation finance, including predictable grants and concessional loans;

• Easier access to resources to develop and implement National Adaptation Plans; and

• A global approach that links climate decisions to tangible resilience gains for communities.

“Adaptation outcomes must be equitable and guided by the Paris Agreement—without shifting burdens to developing countries,” said Kulthoum Omari Motsumi, AGN Lead Coordinator for the GGA. “Adaptation must remain a global responsibility and not a country driven agenda for developing countries with limited resources and capacity to cope with what they never caused,” added Motsumi, who is also Technical Advisor of the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI), an African Heads of state undertaking established 10 years ago to support Africa’s adaptation efforts.

While climate finance remains a broader African priority, the AGN continues to emphasise that scaling up adaptation finance is essential to safeguard lives, health systems, and development gains. African countries already commit up to 5% of their GDP to climate response efforts—a high share for the world’s least-emitting region.