COP29: Africa’s Negotiators urge world leaders to triple Adaptation Funds

The delegations of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku have called on world leaders to triple the continent’s adaptation funds amidst the lingering climate-induced crisis ravaging the region.

The group made this known Tuesday during the High-Level ministerial dialogue on the urgent need to increase adaptation finance at the ongoing COP29 negotiations in Baku.

“Adaptation is Africa’s lifeline,” AGN Chair Ali Mohamed said.

The AGN is the negotiating bloc for Africa at COP meetings. It consists of climate change negotiators from every African country. A representative from one country is selected to chair the group for two years.

The Adaptation Fund was established under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to finance projects and programmes that will help vulnerable communities in developing countries adapt to climate change.

The initiatives are often based on the country’s special needs, views and priorities. The Fund is financed in part by governments and private donors, and also from a two per cent share of proceeds of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) issued under the Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism projects.

Africa’s COP 29 priorities

This year, the COP29 agenda is expected to be anchored on climate finance, mitigation, and adaptation, with the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) designed to provide support for vulnerable communities in global climate solutions.

Last week, Mr Mohamed reiterated that climate finance and adaptation are Africa’s top priorities alongside other equally important items, including mitigation, carbon markets and Global Stock Take (GST).

However, over the past week of the COP29 negotiations, the debate on scaling up adaptation funding for Global South countries has been highly contentious, emotional and frustrating amidst perceived sabotage from wealthy nations.

The AGN Chair hinted that Africa’s recurrent agenda on its “special needs and special circumstances” has continued to be sabotaged by both wealthy nations and certain developing countries.

“It is unfortunate that Africa’s repeated efforts to have an agenda item under the Paris Agreement on Africa’s Special Needs and Special Circumstances, continue to be frustrated by some fellow developing country members,” Mr Mohamed said.

“Unmet targets”

On Wednesday, the AGN said while leaders speak of doubling adaptation funding, the target remains unmet and would close merely five per cent of the global adaptation gap.

“Africa needs $52.7 billion annually by 2030 for adaptation, yet we receive less than 25 per cent of it. Worse, 65 per cent comes as loans – forcing our nations to take on debt for a crisis we didn’t create. This is not just morally wrong; it’s economically short-sighted,” the AGN chair said.

He explained that every $1 invested in making infrastructure resilient saves $4 in reconstruction. Similarly, he said a $1.8 trillion investment could generate $7.1 trillion in benefits by 2030.

“To the international community: Triple, don’t double, adaptation funding by 2025. Shift from loans to grants. Act now – because every day of delay makes our challenge more expensive and more difficult,” Mr Mohamed added.

READ ALSO: COP29: Africa demands ‘grants not loans’ to confront climate crisis

Demands

With less than four days to the end of the ongoing COP29 negotiations, the AGN are demanding over $1 trillion per annum from 2026 and 2030 to finance climate-related development across Africa.

“The #NCQG should consist of a $600 billion publicly provided and a $700 billion publicly mobilised component, with a total quantum goal of USD 1.3 trillion per annum between 2026 and 2030,” Mr Mohamed said on Wednesday.

He explained that the outcome of the NCQG must be geared towards delivering results such as the tripling of renewable energy, the doubling of energy efficiency and addressing climate risks.

The group hinted that the NCQG provision target for developed countries should be $600 billion per annum, which implies a target of less than 1.4 per cent of developed countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per year from 2025.