Africa's Climate Crisis: Reimagining Economic Solutions for a Sustainable Future

Kim Heller

Every year, the story is the same. Africa produces a speck of global emissions but endures the lion's share of climate change impacts.

Scalding heatwaves, droughts, and floods are destroying environmental and economic ecosystems, endangering food security and the livelihoods of millions. The Continent is warming at a rate that surpasses the global norm.

Climate catastrophes add fuel to regional conflict by intensifying resource shortages, poverty, and displacement. The intricacy of economic, security, and climatic challenges is creating a hive of fragility and underdevelopment across much of Africa.

In the epic inequality of climate change, Africa receives just 3.5% of total global climate finance, according to the Climate Policy Initiative. Unremitting resource extraction in post-independent Africa, by an assortment of old and new imperialistic powers, strips Africa of its wealth. It is a death sentence and must come to an end.

The tale of Africa will have no happy ending unless the structural injustice of climate change and the ruin of imperialistic extraction are remedied. A reimagining of both the environmental and economic landscape is necessary.

There is hope. A rekindled horizon is possible if there is a treaty of unity, financial support, an impactful, continentally driven negotiating posture, and a fixation on stability, sustainability, and sovereignty.

The Continent, stuck in a glut of conferencing, debt traps, and empty pledges, needs to navigate towards meaningful investment and actionable strategies.  Dr. David Nyekorach-Matsanga, an international relations expert and head of Pan African Forum, has long proposed that the time has come for Africa to reimagine its approach to climate change and development. He argues that the Continent cannot afford to wait for rescue, as climate change is no longer a looming threat but an everyday reality. 

The Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2) commenced on Monday, 10 September in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bringing together over 45 heads of state and 25,000 delegates under the ambitious theme, "Accelerating Global Climate Solutions: Financing for Africa's Resilient and Green Development."

The Summit, led by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, presents a crucial opportunity to address the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and prepare for COP 30 in November. High on the agenda are decarbonisation, fair climate finance, and African-led programmes that shift away from dependency on aid.

Addressing the Summit, Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority of Development in Ethiopia, said, "The continent is richly endowed with resources — from wind and solar to oil and the sea — that can transform our future if harnessed effectively." He added that "Time is not on our side. Bold action will define our success. Inaction today will explain our failure tomorrow."

In his statement, H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, AUC Chairperson, spoke of how the African Union Commission believes that climate finance must be fair, substantial, and predictable. “Let us seize this defining moment to reaffirm our Continent's unequivocal position regarding our global obligations but differentiated responsibilities".

Speeches alone do not bring defining moments or solutions. Dr Matsanga speaks of how Africa has become a continent of conferences. In his statement ahead of the Summit, he writes that after 67 years of independence, Africa must stop waiting for handouts that may never arrive.

The global powers most responsible for the crisis—the U.S., China, and Europe—have failed to deliver on their promises. Billions of dollars pledged for climate adaptation remain undelivered. The major polluters must be pressured to take responsibility and offer reparations for the extensive climate damage in Africa and assist with funding the just transition. Africa, in turn, needs to up its game.

Matsanga argues, "The answer to our plight resides within the Continent itself. We have vast reservoirs of knowledge, skills, and innovative spirit." He calls for ownership and responsibility by Africa, investment in youth education, indigenous knowledge, and climate-smart agriculture. He warns that dependency on foreign nations will prolong the crisis.

For Matsanga, the Continent's promise lies in its youth demographic, which he believes could help steer a green revolution.

Days before the Summit, a collective of youth and civil society groups assembled in Addis Ababa for the African People's Assembly. They strongly opposed the "business-as-usual" models that relegate Africa as a mere pawn in foreign, imperialist-driven agendas.

There was a strong rally call against extraction, debt traps, and imposed "solutions." The declaration from the Assembly was forthright - "If Africa does not act for its own destiny, it will remain trapped in exploitation, theft, and recolonisation."

A new path is achievable if African needs and prerogatives fashion policies, funding strategies, and outputs. Investing in renewable energy, reforestation, agroecology, and green industry is necessary.

So too are the dismantling of transnational corporation domination and punitive debt and taxation regimes. If this is achieved, there will be a significant shift in Africa’s economic and climate horizon.

The African Union (AU) and regional bodies like ECOWAS and the EAC need to step up in helping to negotiate fairer climate finance and reparations from major polluters. There needs to be a stronger push for debt relief and innovative and sustainable domestic financing models.  This must be the mandate and responsibility of these bodies.

Africa is at an important junction. It can remain paralysed in its fruitless wait for climate commitments and funding that may never arrive from foreign nations.

Or it can reimagine and author its future on its own terms. Dr. David Matsanga is correct - the era of the begging bowl as a symbol of African climate politics must come to an end.

* Kim Heller is a political analyst and author of No White Lies: Black Politics and White Power in South Africa.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.