COP: Raising African Ambition and Agency

United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties

The ACF recognises that the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP) has the potential to allow Africa to be at the forefront of the international climate change negotiations. Given Africa’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, its timing allows Africa to take lead and work towards action.

For the ACF, the COP is a critical platform to shift the narrative of the climate transition in Africa – from one of risk to a constructive narrative around opportunities. Our ambition is to strengthen and support efforts toward the development of Africa’s decarbonisation and climate resilience pathways as part of unlocking Africa’s economic transformation and long-term inclusive growth and development.

We believe that climate change issues cannot be addressed in isolation but must be located within the broader developmental framework. Our African agenda is shaped not only around climate priorities, but also about building a future Africa that is economically transformed. Ultimately, address the climate crisis from multiple angles.

The ACF seeks to enrich the COP by building momentum and solidarity among relevant actors to promote a more coordinated and complementary African agenda and ambition that speaks with one voice.

Join our partners and us at the following events:

Financing the Just Transition in South Africa

Scaling-up access to adaptation finance

Challenges and Opportunities of the Green and Just Energy Transition for African Countries

Adaptation and Resilience in South Africa’s Just Transition

Enabling Scaling Up of Renewable Energy in Africa

Competing Narratives in Energy Transitions

Tracking Progress Towards Just Transitions

Road to COP: Priority Issues and Themes

The ACF believes that an African COP needs to:

Pivot adaptation and mitigation ambition to Africa’s economic growth and socio-economic development needs.
Demonstrate how climate finance should be used to catalyse other sources of finance.
Ensure that Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) attract investments into African economies and support an approach that can tackle economy-wide challenges, such as green industrial development and manufacturing, food systems transformation, enhance employment and, in those countries that are fossil fuel dependent, embark on a just transition.

The ACF, through a range of partnerships, aims to open a wider discussion by looking beyond COP and using this global platform as an instrument to catalyse long-term climate-resilient outcomes and investments on the continent in critical economic sectors. The ACF support to its partners aims to:

Profile, develop and entrench new development and climate justice focused narratives and approaches to advocacy, engagement and diplomacy which can inform more ambitious, coordinated and contextually relevant climate action, both within and outside the Paris Agreement.
Support mobilisation around a common and coordinated African climate and development agenda.
Elevate Africa’s ambition and role in the fight against climate change, and global cooperation and associated finance needed to realise this.
Provide technical assistance to African institutions and African governments.
Catalyse long-term investments in the African climate and development project.

Photo Credits

COP27

Attend ACF’s facilitated African multi-stakeholder climate change dialogues, which feed into the broader COP27 dialogue and negotiation process.

Photo Credits

COP26

The ACF’s roadmap to COP is informed by its perspective of not seeing COP27 as an end in itself, but as an important platform to demonstrate…

ACF’s COP27 Partners

Africa-Europe Foundation

Presidential Climate Commission

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