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By: Nukanah Kollie
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA –African Heads of State and Government, meeting at the Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2) in Addis Ababa, have adopted the Addis Ababa Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action, a landmark statement demanding stronger international support, equitable financing, and urgent reforms to the global climate architecture to secure Africa’s green and resilient future.
The Summit, held from September 8–10, 2025, brought together leaders of the African Union (AU), the United Nations, regional economic communities, civil society, youth, women, farmers, Indigenous Peoples, and private sector partners.
In the declaration, African leaders underscored that Africa is not merely a victim of climate change, but a proactive, resource-rich continent positioned to be a global hub for low-carbon manufacturing, renewable energy, and green trade through frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
They reaffirmed Africa’s commitment to the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), while stressing that climate finance is a legal obligation, not charity from developed nations. Leaders demanded urgent reforms to the international financial system, including multilateral development banks, to ensure fair, affordable, and timely access to climate finance. Africa needs over US$3 trillion by 2030 to meet its climate goals but received only US$30 billion between 2021 and 2022.
The declaration welcomed the launch of the Africa Climate Innovation Compact (ACIC) and the African Climate Facility (ACF) , with commitments to mobilize US$50 billion annually to scale up local solutions. It also warned against punitive trade measures such as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which could shrink Africa’s GDP by over 1% annually, while calling for a just and fair global transition.
Leaders highlighted the Mission 300 agenda to provide electricity to 300 million people by 2030 and clean cooking solutions for 900 million Africans, framing energy access as central to just transitions. They stressed that this transition must extend beyond energy into agriculture, water, and other critical sectors. Despite holding 40% of the world’s renewable energy potential, Africa still has more than 600 million people without electricity. Leaders therefore reiterated calls for Africa’s share of global renewable energy financing to rise from 2% to at least 20% by 2030.
The declaration backed just transition pathways across all sectors rooted in sustainable development and poverty eradication, welcomed the Africa Green Minerals Strategy with a call for transparent governance and value addition in resource wealth, prioritized food security and resilient agriculture through smallholder farmer financing, climate-smart seeds, and regional research collaboration, reaffirmed commitment to nature-based solutions such as the Great Green Wall and the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), and called for scaling up technology-based solutions including AI-driven climate systems, early warning technologies, and digital agriculture.
It further declared adaptation as Africa’s foremost priority with bold strategies in urban resilience, water security, climate-smart health systems, and locally rooted solutions blending traditional and modern knowledge; demanded urgent operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund with simplified access for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS); recognized climate change as a threat multiplier to peace and security while urging the AU to develop a continental framework for addressing climate-induced mobility and conflicts; and linked climate change and health by highlighting risks from heatwaves and water scarcity while calling for financing climate-resilient African health systems.
The Call to Action demanded that developed countries scale up climate finance to US$1.3 trillion annually by 2035, mainly as grants, while also pushing for debt relief, accessible financing mechanisms, and reforms in global financial architecture.
African leaders committed to prioritizing adaptation finance as the continent’s main challenge, supporting farmers, women, and youth with climate information and technologies, advancing green industrialization, resilient cities, and renewable energy, and strengthening African unity ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil to ensure the continent’s priorities shape global negotiations.
The declaration praised Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative, which mobilized millions to plant billions of trees, alongside other African-led programs such as the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI), the African Adaptation Initiative (AAI), and the Africa Green Industrialisation Initiative (AGII).
“Africa is warming faster than the rest of the world,” the declaration warned, adding that unchecked climate change threatens to undermine peace, stability, and economic growth. Leaders emphasized that climate resilience is inseparable from peacebuilding, food and water security, and human development.
With this bold declaration, African leaders have sent a clear message to the world: the continent is ready to lead in advancing climate justice, renewable energy, and green industrialization but global partners must meet their commitments to unlock Africa’s full potential.
