Addis Ababa, 9 September 2026 (ECA) – The Fourteenth Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-14) concluded today in Addis Ababa, adopting a comprehensive set of key messages calling on Africa to move from climate participation to climate agency, and from pledges to implementation, as the continent prepares for COP31 in Antalya and an African-hosted COP32 in Addis Ababa in 2027.
Convened under the Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa) Programme – a joint initiative of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in partnership with the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) – the three-day conference brought together policymakers, negotiators, financial institutions, researchers, civil society, youth, women and the private sector under the theme "From Pledges to Implementation: The Belém–Antalya–Addis Roadmap."
Closed by Hanan Morsy, ECA Deputy Executive Secretary, CCDA-14 called for a coherent African climate agenda anchored in equity, sustainable development, accountability and African ownership. It urged Africa to strengthen its climate agency by shaping global governance, mobilizing transformative finance, and advancing science, technology and innovation. It called for Africa’s road to COP31 and COP32 to prioritize predictable, adequate, accessible and non-debt-creating climate finance; stronger institutions; enhanced data and innovation capacities; and scaled investment in adaptation and early warning that benefits cities, local governments and vulnerable communities. It emphasized that climate action must drive economic transformation through regional integration, industrialization, critical-minerals management, circular and bioeconomy approaches, food security, peace and resilient urban development – underpinned by just, inclusive and gender-responsive transition pathways.
Earlier in the week, ECA Executive Secretary Claver Gatete said Africa's climate story "should not be defined by vulnerability alone," urging the continent to "press for climate justice and greater international support, while harnessing Africa's assets to help shape the rules, investments and solutions driving global climate action." AUC Commissioner Moses Vilakati said the conference "asks us to move beyond the question of what Africa should seek from COP31... to what Africa should propose to the world."
AfDB's James Kinyangi said "Africa is not merely a victim of climate change. We are a source of solutions," while Afreximbank's Olubunmi Obasanjo-Williams told delegates "vulnerability is not the full African story." For his part, Mithika Mwenda of PACJA urged the delegates to move "from declaration to delivery."
Delegates were told Africa contributes less than 4 per cent of global emissions yet needs about $277 billion a year to implement its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through 2030, with current flows covering only around 11 per cent of that need.
Key highlights as adopted at CCDA-14.
Climate priorities to climate agency
• Africa must progress from climate participation to climate agency, shaping global climate governance, finance, technology, institutions and implementation pathways.
• Climate ambition must be demonstrated through implementation, with commitments translated into laws, budgets, investments, accountable institutions and measurable outcomes.
• Strong coordination across national, regional and continental levels is essential to coherent negotiating positions and effective implementation.
• African parliaments have a critical role in translating global commitments into legislation, budgets, oversight and implementation.
Global climate governance
• Africa needs a coherent position grounded in equity, development priorities and the right to development, safeguarding its policy space and natural-resource use.
• The UNFCCC remains indispensable for legitimacy and negotiated obligations, but African climate diplomacy must also engage international financial institutions, trade and technology regimes, and standard-setting processes.
• The UNFCCC should place greater emphasis on implementation, including capacity to develop NDCs, Adaptation Communications and Biennial Transparency Reports.
Rebuilding the global climate finance compact
• Developed countries must honour obligations under the Convention and Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement to provide predictable, adequate and accessible climate finance.
• Financing must be structurally transformational, move beyond project-centric approaches, and strengthen domestic fiscal institutions and African-owned financing mechanisms; investment decisions should not be driven primarily by financial returns.
• Climate finance effectiveness should be measured by the value it creates and retains in Africa – local value addition, industrialization, jobs, technology transfer – while addressing profit repatriation, debt servicing, illicit financial flows and import dependence.
• Adaptation is an investment, not a cost, and its returns must be embedded in national planning, budgets and multilateral development bank decisions.
Article 6 and carbon pricing
• Carbon pricing can support climate and development goals when tailored to national circumstances and backed by rigorous cost-benefit analysis and strong monitoring, reporting and verification.
• Carbon pricing should be introduced progressively, aligned with national development priorities, with revenues funding clean technology, economic transformation and jobs.
• Africa should shift from capacity-building toward functional, high-integrity carbon markets that mobilize private capital and deliver tangible community benefits.
Science, innovation and data governance
• Africa must move from climate data generation to integrated, decision-ready climate-risk intelligence linked to bankable investment and stronger finance accountability.
• Africa’s capacity challenge is principally one of recognition, investment and resourcing rather than knowledge alone; stronger African-led data governance and research investment are needed.
• Indigenous and local knowledge, and gender-responsive science, must be embedded, with stronger science-policy linkages to inform decision-making.
Climate information services and early warning
• Africa needs an integrated early-warning value chain connecting observation, forecasting, communication, anticipatory action, financing and response, avoiding fragmented parallel systems.
• The Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF) should be expanded to all countries in need, with resources ring-fenced for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and regulatory authority over all observation stations.
• Climate information must evolve from generic forecasts to sector-specific, impact-based services; the Addis Ababa Call to Action on Early Warnings should be implemented, with 2027 a milestone, not an ending.
Just transitions and critical minerals
• African agency is essential to ensure critical minerals and the energy transition deliver industrialization, energy security and inclusive growth, requiring stronger governance, regional integration and reformed international frameworks.
• A just energy transition must deliver a just minerals transition, with mineral-producing countries capturing a fair share of value, technology, revenues and jobs through local processing and beneficiation.
• The transition should build regional value chains anchored in the Africa Mining Vision, the African Green Minerals Strategy and the AfCFTA, avoiding disproportionate environmental and social costs to Africa. AfDB’s Kinyangi noted Africa holds 60 per cent of the world’s solar potential and that the Bank’s Climate Action Window has mobilized $450.9 million for 37 low-income countries. Afreximbank’s Obasanjo-Williams announced the bank will direct 5 per cent of long-term loans to climate finance by 2030, 70 per cent to adaptation, citing the $3 billion DRC-Zambia battery value chain.
• Africa’s energy transition must be African-led, prioritizing access, affordability, reliability and policy space for broad-based development.
Circular economy
• The circular economy should be pursued as a competitiveness, development and transformation agenda, advancing resilience, green industrialization and job creation.
• National development and climate frameworks, including NDCs and NAPs, should systematically integrate circular economy approaches, backed by finance, infrastructure and skilled workforces.
• The AUC, ECA, AfDB and partners should develop a continental circular economy roadmap towards COP31 and COP32.
• The African Union’s Continental Circular Economy Action Plan (2024–2034) should be scaled through National Circular Economy Roadmaps, leveraging the AfCFTA to build regional value chains.
• The African Circular Economy Alliance (ACEA) and the AfDB-hosted Africa Circular Economy Facility (ACEF) should be strengthened to convert policy leadership into bankable, investment-ready opportunities.
Adaptation, resilience and urban leadership
• Cities must be recognized as primary receiving systems for climate-related mobility and displacement, planning for both climate losses and the arrival of displaced people, with secure land, housing and services treated as adaptation infrastructure.
• Climate mobility, housing and urban resilience should be integrated into NDCs and NAPs, with direct, predictable finance for cities and local governments.
• A stronger global adaptation accountability framework is needed, linking national and global commitments to place-based implementation and measurable resilience outcomes.
Agriculture, food security and food systems
• Agriculture should be redefined as a climate-resilient agrifood system and a central pillar of climate negotiations, not a standalone production sector, with food security a non-negotiable outcome of climate action.
• An integrated food-systems approach is needed, linking production, natural resources, markets, nutrition and livelihoods, with resilience as the organizing principle for investment and policy.
• The UNFCCC process should better recognize African food systems, farmers and agrifood value chains. Delivery – costed, implementable plans, capable institutions, investable projects and accessible finance – is the ultimate test of ambition.
Climate, peace and security
• Climate change is a risk multiplier for peace, security and social cohesion, exacerbating food, water and energy insecurity, resource competition, displacement and inequality.
• The African Union and Member States should finalize, adopt and operationalize the Common African Position on Climate, Peace and Security, with clear institutional ownership.
• Climate and conflict-risk analysis should be integrated into early warning, disaster risk reduction and anticipatory action, and mainstreamed into NDCs, NAPs and peacebuilding, with increased, predictable adaptation finance for fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
To carry the agenda forward, CCDA-14 established six working committees – on climate finance and carbon markets, agriculture and food systems, just transition and critical minerals, circular economy, and adaptation and climate change and development – each composed of a Chair, Alternate Chair, Secretary and six to ten technical experts representing Africa’s diverse regions. Coordinated by the ClimDev-Africa Secretariat, the committees will integrate outcomes from COP31, including the Belém–Antalya–Addis Roadmap, and prepare a consolidated report for CCDA-XV, assessing the state of climate finance delivery in Africa and recommending priority actions on the road to COP32, which Ethiopia will host in Addis Ababa in November 2027.
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