Ensuring fair and transparent access to critical minerals for African countries in the context of global energy transition
The transition towards low-carbon and renewable energy sources requires a significant increase in the demand for critical minerals, such as lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel, and rare earth elements, which are essential for producing batteries, electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels, and other clean technologies. However, the supply of these minerals is unevenly distributed across the world and often concentrated in countries with weak governance, environmental and social standards, and human rights violations. Moreover, the extraction and processing of these minerals pose significant challenges to the environment and local communities, such as water pollution, land degradation, biodiversity loss, and social conflicts.
Organizer: The Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) and the Africa-Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access (ACSEA) in partnership with the Africa-Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) and the Africa Development Bank.
Date: 30th November 2023
Time: 9:00 - 10:30 am
Room: Africa Pavilion, Opportunity Petal, Blue Zone
Article 6 Capacity Building
The Paris Agreement on Climate Change sets out a clear global goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels and thus put the world on track to avoid catastrophic climate change impacts.
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement provides a framework for countries to cooperate towards the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through carbon markets (Articles 6.2 and 6.4) and non-market modalities (Article 6.8). These cooperative approaches can enable countries to reach their NDC targets in a more flexible and cost-efficient way. The overall objective is to increase climate ambition, promote sustainable development, and safeguard environmental integrity
Africa Day
In 2009, AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government established the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) to set the agenda for Africa’s engagement in the global climate change negotiations through the provision of political directive and oversight on the work of the Ministers of Environment and the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change. The Key Messages adopted by the CAHOSCC on behalf of the African Union serve as the basis for Africa’s common negotiating position at the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and thus facilitate Africa to speak with one voice at the COPs. The AU also requested the African Union Commission, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other regional partners to step up their efforts in terms of providing the necessary facilitation and coordination to support Africa’s effective participation at the COPs.
Assessing loss and damage: methodological challenges and prospects
“Loss and damage”, the harms inflicted by climate change that go beyond what people can adapt to, refers to a range of impacts including lost lives; monetary costs from the destruction of infrastructure, buildings, crops and other property; loss of ecosystems and cultures, and so on. Causes of losses and damages include rapid and slow onset extremes of temperature and precipitation such as floods, droughts, cyclones, sea level rise, ocean acidification and so on. Such events are becoming more frequent and intense in Africa.
Supercharging africa´s battery & ev ambitions
A global transition towards green energy and rapid decarbonization has exponentially increased demand for Electric Vehicles (EVs) as well as investment in battery-powered storage systems. A typical electric vehicle battery pack, for example, needs around 8 kilograms of lithium, 35 kilograms of nickel, 20 kilograms of manganese and 14 kilograms of cobalt, while charging stations require substantial amounts of copper. For green power, solar panels use large quantities of copper, silicon, silver and zinc, while wind turbines require iron ore, copper, and aluminium. Experts agree that the clean energy transition needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change could unleash unprecedented metals demand in coming decades, requiring as much as 3 billion tons of metal and minerals. Current supply and reserve.
Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa)
Africa’s Trade and Green Transition: A Continentally Coordinated Approach
The relationship between trade and the environment is bi-directional. Trade can lead to innovation, promote green initiatives, and help facilitate the transfer of knowledge needed to set in motion sustainable and inclusive development. Yet simultaneously, trade can contribute to climate change, environmental degradation, and increase GHG emissions. The modality through which this happens is simple. The more that goods are traded the more they must move, both domestically and across borders, which requires more transport mechanisms including trucks, railcars, airplanes and maritime vessels, all of which increase emissions.
Launch of the Sustainable Debt Coalition and Roadmap for Financing of Nature and Climate
The Sustainable Debt Coalition (SDC) is a collaboration of debtors and creditors, advocating for comprehensive reform of the global sovereign debt architecture to support developing countries to achieve their climate change goals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also includes within in it, a subgroup of borrower-only members acting together in a “borrower club”.
Organizer: Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt, UN Economic Commission for Africa
Date: 4th December 2023
Time: 17:00 - 18:00
Room: Egypt Pavilion
Sustainable budgeting for navigating the climate, debt, and development crises
The panel discussion aims to explore the role of sustainable budgeting in addressing Africa's interlinked challenges of debt, development, and environmental crises (see policy brief here). It builds on the endorsement of the Sustainable Budgeting Approach (SBA) by African Ministers of Finance, Economy, and Environment at the 2022 International Cooperation Forum and early discussions for a common position African position at the 11th Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa.
Organizer: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the United Nations Environment Program, and the University of Oxford, in partnership with the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action
Date: 4th December 2023
Time: TBD
Room: Africa Pavilion, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Making the sovereigns from the Congo Basin Climate Commission the net exporter of premium carbon credits
The demand for carbon credits, pulled by increased commitments of investors and governments to transition to net zero pathways, is rising globally. It exceeds by far the combined supply from the compliance markets heavily dominated by the EU countries, representing about 22 % of the global anthropogenic carbon emissions with a market size of about US$ 909 billion in 2022), and voluntary market in which many developing countries, including African countries are participants. The latter could be representing no mor than 0.2% of the global emissions, with a market size that was moving toward US$ 2 billion in 2022. These limitations in the global supply of credits is a great opportunity for the sovereigns from the Congo Basin Climate Commission (CBCC) to boost cooperation and leverage the vast mitigation potentials of their land and water resources such as those that could be computed from that data outlined in Table 1. This could allow the countries to cover the 78% of carbon emissions that are unaccounted for, and to play a leading role in the carbon credit markets alongside the countries from the Amazon and Borneo-Mekong known to also have vast carbon sinks in their immense tropical forests.
Organizer: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), CCBC, Afreximbank, OSAAA
Date: 4th December 2023
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Room: CCBC Pavilion
African Energy Dialogues
WRI Africa’s targeted research (see “A Path Across the Rift”) and survey of the energy transition landscape identified the need for inclusive, evidence-based dialogue on Africa’s energy transitions. In response, WRI, UNECA, AFREC, and SEforALL collaborated to kick off the African Energy Dialogues during Africa Climate Week in September 2023 to identify and help meet the needs of African countries to develop tailored energy transition pathways. The African Energy Dialogues will officially launch at COP28 and will leverage the robust networks of all of the partner organizations, as well as their data, research, and convening capabilities to build a strong African-led dialogue platform and elevate its recommendations to relevant policy fora, investment communities, and decision-makers.
Africa Climate Projects Pipeline
Responsible and inclusive management of critical energy transition minerals
Energy transition minerals are vital inputs for technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles. Their supply and demand face geopolitical uncertainties, environmental impacts, market distortions, and technological gaps.
Under the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) net-zero emissions scenario, demand for these critical materials will more than triple by 2030. For producing countries, the potential economic benefits of this increased demand come with potential social and environmental risks, including increased encroachment on sensitive lands, potential conflicts with the need to preserve biodiversity and carbon sinks, and ensuring a just and inclusive energy transition.
Enhancing the Africa Climate Resilient Investment Facility (AFRI-RES)
The Africa Climate Resilient Investment Facility (AFRI-RES) is an initiative of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the World Bank, the African Union Commission (AUC), and the African Development Bank (AFDB), with initial funding from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF). AFRI-RES was established in 2017 to support African countries and stakeholders with the tools and capacity to integrated climate resilience in investments in critical sector. The programme is implemented under four components. Component 1, led by the World Bank, as well as the AfDB, provides project-level support to specific projects on the integration of climate resilience. Component 2, led by the ECA and the AUC, focusses on outreach, dissemination, and comprehensive training to technical experts, media professionals and civil society on climate resilience. Component 3, led by the World Bank, focusses on the development of guidelines, standards, and good practice notes for climate-resilient investments. Component 4, led by the ECA, focusses on the development of a climate knowledge and data portal for an online repository of knowledge of relevance for climate-resilient investment planning and design in Africa. The first phase of project completes in 2022.
African Islands States Climate Commission Ministerial Meeting
Launch of ‘A Framework for National Nature Strategy’
Africa's economy heavily relies on nature, but natural capital is rapidly depleting. The decline of natural capital poses significant risks to economic development and people’s wellbeing. 70% of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa depend on forests and woodlands for their livelihoods. Africa loses approximately 195 billion USD of natural capital annually through unsustainable or illicit activities. Investing in nature restoration can unlock economic opportunities and mitigate risks. Africa's natural resources, including its extensive coastline, offer a competitive edge. The blue economy, through research, innovation, and ecosystem management, could yield 576 billion USD each year and 127 million jobs by 2063. Marine and coastal tourism alone could bring 100 billion USD each year in revenue and employ 28 million people by 2030. Overall, a nature-positive transition and restoration investment could generate 10 trillion USD in investment and 395 million jobs by 2030.
Organizer: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa), with support from McKinsey & Company
Date: 9th December 2023
Room: Africa Pavilion
Concept Note and Programme, Presentation
The pathways and lessons learned leading to a Just Transition Work Programme
Since the 1970’s the concept of Just Transition has evolved massively. The 2015 ILO Guidelines on Just Transition, the Paris Agreement preamble, and this years’ 111th ILC Resolution and Conclusion on Just Transition are just a few of the milestones leading up to the development of the Just Transition Work Programme at COP28. Meanwhile, climate and environmental change is quickly becoming the largest threat to poverty reduction, decent work, gender equality, sustainable development and social justice. Approximately half of the world’s GDP is dependent to a greater or lesser extent on nature and the sustainable management of ecosystem services. This includes 1.2 billion jobs in farming, fisheries, forestry and tourism. People living in poverty, including women and indigenous peoples, are often disproportionally dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods and food security.
Organizer: ILO with the support of UNFCCC, UN WOMEN, United Nations University - Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, YOUNGO, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), International Organisation of Employers (IOE).
Date: 9th December 2023
Time: 13:15 - 14:45
Room: SE Room 2
The pathways and lessons learned leading to a Just Transition Work Programme
Since the 1970’s the concept of Just Transition has evolved massively. The 2015 ILO Guidelines on Just Transition, the Paris Agreement preamble, and this years’ 111th ILC Resolution and Conclusion on Just Transition are just a few of the milestones leading up to the development of the Just Transition Work Programme at COP28. Meanwhile, climate and environmental change is quickly becoming the largest threat to poverty reduction, decent work, gender equality, sustainable development and social justice. Approximately half of the world’s GDP is dependent to a greater or lesser extent on nature and the sustainable management of ecosystem services. This includes 1.2 billion jobs in farming, fisheries, forestry and tourism. People living in poverty, including women and indigenous peoples, are often disproportionally dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods and food security.
Organizer: ILO with the support of UNFCCC, UN WOMEN, United Nations University - Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, YOUNGO, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), International Organisation of Employers (IOE).
Date: 9th December 2023
Time: 13:15 - 14:45
Room: SE Room 2
Leveraging African Leadership on Ocean Governance and Blue Economy
Africa has demonstrated unique leadership on ocean and the blue economy recently. It is fundamental to acknowledge the June 2023 Moroni Declaration for Ocean and Climate Action in Africa as well as September 2023 Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action, an outcome of the Africa Climate Summit (ACS). Such leadership must be understood and matched by the international community to elevate and strengthen cooperation and realise African’s aspirations, as enshrined in the Africa Blue Economy Strategy (ABES).
Briefing on the status of COP28 climate change negotiations Side-event
