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PREAMBLE
We, African Heads of State and Government, have gathered for the first African Climate Summit (AEC) in Nairobi, Kenya, September 4-6, 2023; in the presence of other world leaders, intergovernmental organizations, regional economic communities, United Nations agencies, the private sector, civil society organizations, indigenous peoples, local communities, agricultural organizations, children, young people, women and academics, hereby:
1. Recall the decisions of the Assembly (AU/Dec.723(XXXII), AU/Dec.764 (XXXIII) and AU/Dec.855(XXXVI)) requesting the African Union Commission to organize a summit African Climate Conference and endorsing the offer of the Republic of Kenya to host the Summit;
2. Commend the African Heads of State and Government Committee on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), under the leadership of HE President William Ruto, for providing a unified approach and political leadership on an African vision that simultaneously pursues the climate change and development agenda;
3. Congratulate the Arab Republic of Egypt on the success of COP27 and its historic outcomes, particularly regarding loss and damage, just transition and energy, and call for the full implementation of all COP27 decisions.
4. Take note of the 6th Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), stating that the world is not on track to maintain the 1.5°C limit agreed in Paris and that global emissions must be reduced by 43% over this decade;
5. Highlight the IPCC's confirmation that Africa is warming faster than the rest of the world and that, unless it abates, climate change will continue to have negative impacts on African economies and societies and hinder growth and well-being;
6. Express concern that many African countries face disproportionate burdens and risks resulting from unpredictable climate change-related weather events and phenomena, including prolonged droughts, devastating floods, wildfires , which are causing a massive humanitarian crisis with adverse impacts on economies, health, education, peace and security, among other risks;
7. Recognize that climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity and the greatest threat to all life on Earth. This requires urgent and concerted action by all nations to reduce emissions and reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; 8. Recognize that Africa is not historically responsible for global warming, but bears the brunt of its effects, impacting lives, livelihoods and economies;
9. Reaffirm the principles set out in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement, namely equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capacities,
10. Recall that there are only seven years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, and note with concern that 600 million people in Africa still do not have access to electricity while 970 million do not have access to a clean kitchen; 11. Concerned that although Africa has about 40 percent of the world's renewable energy resources, only $60 billion, or 2 percent of the $3 trillion investment in renewable energy over the last decade have gone to Africa,
12. Further recognize that African cities and urban centers are growing rapidly and will be home to more than a billion people by 2050. Recognizing that rapid urbanization, poverty and inequality limit capacity planning and other urban dynamics that increase the exposure and vulnerability of populations to hazards and have thus transformed cities into disaster hotspots across the continent. 13. Let us emphasize that Africa has both the potential and the ambition to be an essential part of the global solution to climate change. As home to the world's youngest and fastest growing workforce, coupled with enormous untapped renewable energy potential, abundant natural assets and an entrepreneurial spirit, our continent has the fundamentals needed to lead the way on a climate-friendly path forward as a thriving, cost-competitive industrial hub with the capacity to help other regions achieve their net zero ambitions.
14. Reaffirm Africa's commitment to creating an enabling environment, adopting the policies and facilitating the investments needed to unlock resources
necessary to meet our own climate commitments and contribute significantly to the decarbonization of the global economy.
15. Recognize the important role of forests in Africa, particularly the Congo Basin rainforest, in regulating global climate change
16. further the critical importance of oceans in climate action and the commitments made to ocean sustainability in several forums such as the Second United Nations Ocean Conference in 2022 and the Moroni Declaration for Action on oceans and climate in Africa in 2023. Collective action is necessary.
17. We call on the global community to act urgently to reduce emissions, meet its obligations, keep its past promises and support the continent in the fight against climate change, in particular to:
i) Accelerate all emissions reduction efforts to align with the goals set out in the Paris Agreement
ii) Honor the commitment to provide $100 billion in annual climate finance, as promised 14 years ago at the Copenhagen conference.
iii) Respect commitments to a fair and accelerated process of progressive coal reduction and abolition of all coal subsidies.
fossil fuels.
18. We call for climate-positive investments that catalyze a growth trajectory, anchored in industries poised to transform our planet and enabling African countries to achieve stable middle-income status by 2050.
19. We urge world leaders to join us in seizing this unprecedented opportunity to accelerate global decarbonization, while pursuing equality and shared prosperity;
20. We call for the implementation of the loss and damage fund, as agreed at COP27, and decide to adopt a measurable global adaptation goal (GGA) with indicators and targets to assess progress made in combating the negative impacts of climate change. We are committed to :
21. Develop and implement policies, regulations and incentives aimed at attracting local, regional and global investments in green growth and inclusive economies;
22. Power economic growth and job creation in Africa in a way that limits our own emissions and also contributes to global decarbonization efforts, moving beyond traditional industrial development and promoting green production and supply chains worldwide ;
23. Focus our economic development plans on climate-positive growth, including the expansion of just energy transitions and renewable energy production for industrial activity, climate-friendly and restorative agricultural practices, as well as the essential protection and enhancement of nature and biodiversity;
24. Strengthen actions to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, deforestation and desertification, as well as restore degraded lands in order to achieve land degradation neutrality;
25. Strengthen continental collaboration, which is essential to enable and advance green growth, including but not limited to the interconnectivity of regional and continental networks, and further accelerate the operationalization of the agreement on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA);
26. Advance green industrialization across the continent by prioritizing energy-intensive industries to trigger a virtuous cycle of renewable energy deployment and economic activity, with a particular focus on the added value of natural wealth of Africa ;
27. Redouble efforts to increase agricultural yields through sustainable agricultural practices, in order to improve food security while minimizing negative environmental impacts;
28. Take the lead in developing global standards, metrics and market mechanisms to accurately value and offset the protection of nature, biodiversity, socio-economic co-benefits and the provision of climate services;
29. Finalize and implement the African Union biodiversity strategy and action plan, with a view to achieving the 2050 vision of living in harmony with nature;
30. Provide all reforms and support necessary to bring the share of the
financing of renewable energies at least 20% by 2030.
31. Integrate climate, biodiversity and oceans programs into national plans and processes to ensure their contribution to sustainable development, livelihoods and sustainability goals, and increase the resilience of local communities, coastal areas and national economies;
32. Support smallholder farmers, indigenous peoples and local communities in the green economic transition, given their key role in ecosystem management;
33. Identify, prioritize and integrate adaptation into policymaking and development planning, including in the context of national plans and nationally determined contributions (NDCs);
34. Build an effective partnership between Africa and other regions, to meet the needs for financial, technical and technological support and knowledge sharing for adaptation to climate change;
35. Promote investments in urban infrastructure, including upgrading informal settlements and slums to build climate-resilient cities and urban centers. 36. Strengthen early warning systems and climate information services, as well as take early action to protect lives, livelihoods and assets and inform long-term decision-making related to change-related risks climatic. We highlight the importance of integrating indigenous knowledge and citizen science into adaptation strategies and early warning systems;
37. Improve drought resilience systems to move from crisis management to proactive drought preparedness and adaptation, to significantly reduce the vulnerability of people, economic activities and ecosystems to drought.
38. Accelerate the implementation of the African Union strategy and action plan on climate change and resilient development (2022-2032).
CALL TO ACTION 39. Call on world leaders to understand that the decarbonization of the global economy is also an opportunity to contribute to equality and
shared prosperity;
40. Invite development partners from the South and North to align and coordinate their technical and financial resources for Africa in order to promote the sustainable use of Africa's natural assets for the continent's progression towards low-cost development. carbon intensity and to contribute to global decarbonization;
41. To achieve this vision of economic transformation in harmony with our climate needs, we call on the international community to contribute to the following:
i) Increase Africa's renewable energy production capacity from 56 GW in 2022 to at least 300 GW by 2030, both to combat energy poverty and to strengthen the global supply of clean energy and profitable for the industry;
ii) Shift energy-intensive primary processing of African raw material exports to the continent, also to serve as an anchor of demand for our renewable energy and a means to rapidly reduce global emissions;
iii) Call for access and transfer of environmentally friendly technologies, including technologies that consist of innovation processes and methods to support green industrialization and Africa's transition.
iv) Design global and regional trade mechanisms to enable African products to compete on fair and equitable terms;
v) Request that environmental tariffs and trade-related non-tariff barriers be subject to multilateral discussions and agreements and do not constitute unilateral, arbitrary or discriminatory measures;
vii) Accelerate efforts to decarbonize the transport, industrial and electricity sectors through the use of intelligent, digital and highly efficient technologies and systems.
viii) Design industrial policies that encourage global investment to locations that provide the most substantial climate benefits, while ensuring benefits for local communities;
ix) Implement a combination of measures that increase Africa’s share of carbon markets. 42. Reiterate Decision 31/COP27 that a global transformation to a low-carbon economy is expected to require investments of at least $4-6 trillion per year and that providing this financing in turn requires a transformation of the financial system and its structures and processes, involving governments, central banks, commercial banks, institutional investors and other financial actors.
43. We call for collective global action to mobilize the capital needed for development and climate action, echoing the Paris Summit declaration for a new global financing compact that no country should ever have to choose between development aspirations and climate action. 44. Call for concrete and time-bound action on the multilateral financial system reform proposals currently under discussion, specifically to:
i. strengthen resilience to climate shocks, in particular by improving the deployment of the SDR liquidity mechanism and suspension clauses in the event of catastrophe. We propose to examine a new issuance of SDRs to respond to the climate crisis, of a magnitude at least of the same magnitude as that of Covid19 (650 billion dollars);
ii. better exploitation of MDB balance sheets to increase concessional financing to at least $500 billion per year;
iii. Measures to improve debt management, including:
has. the inclusion of “debt suspension clauses”, and
b. the proposed expert review of the Common Framework and Debt Sustainability Analysis
iv. New interventions and debt relief instruments to prevent default with the capacity to
has. extend the duration of sovereign debt, and
c. include a 10-year grace period
vi. Decisive action to promote inclusive and effective international tax cooperation at the United Nations (resolution A/C.2/77/L.11/REV.1) – with the aim of reducing the annual loss of $27 billion in corporate tax revenue in Africa through profit shifting, by at least 50% by 2030 and 75% by 2050.
vii. Additional measures to attract and de-risk private capital, such as blended finance instruments, purchase commitments, partial foreign exchange (FX) guarantee and industrial policy collaboration, which should be informed by the risks that result in the lack of large-scale deployment of private capital;
viii. Overhaul of MDB governance, to ensure a “fit for purpose” system with appropriate representation, voice and action for all countries 45. It should be noted that multilateral finance reform is necessary but not sufficient to provide the scale of climate finance the world needs to achieve the 45% emissions reduction by 2030 required to meet the UN Climate Change Accord. Paris, otherwise maintaining global warming at 1.5% will be seriously compromised. It is further worth noting that the scale of financing required to unlock climate positive growth in Africa exceeds the borrowing capacity of national balance sheets, or matches the risk premium that Africa currently pays for private capital .
46. Draw attention to the fact that excessive borrowing costs, typically 5 to 8 times what rich countries pay (the “great financial divide”), are a root cause of the recurring debt crisis developing countries and a barrier to investment in development and climate action. We call for the adoption of responsible sovereign lending and accountability principles encompassing credit rating, risk analysis and debt sustainability assessment frameworks and urge financial markets to commit to reducing this disparity of at least 50%, i.e. from 5% to 8% to 2.5 to 4.0. % by 2025. 47. Urge world leaders to rally behind the proposal for a global carbon tax regime, including a carbon tax on fossil fuel trade, shipping and aviation, which could also be augmented by a global tax on Financial Transactions (TTF) to provide dedicated, affordable services and accessible financing at scale for climate-positive investments, and protection of these resources and decision-making against undue influence of geopolitical and national interests .
48. Propose to establish a new financing architecture tailored to the needs of Africa, including debt restructuring and relief, including the development of a new Global Climate Finance Charter through the processes of the UNGA and the COP by 2025;
49. That the first Global Assessment, which will take place in 2023 during COP28, offers a crucial opportunity to rectify the situation by including an overall result, both retrospective and prospective.
50. Resolve to make the African Climate Summit a biennial event organized by the African Union and hosted by AU Member States, to define the new vision of the continent taking into account emerging global climate and climate issues. development ;
51. We also resolve that this Declaration will constitute an important contribution of the African continent to the global process on climate change, at COP 28 and beyond;
52. Welcome the commitments made at the summit by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as COP28 President and other development partners to support Africa, particularly in the areas of renewable energy and adaptation .
53. Appreciate the efforts of the UAE as COP28 President-designate in preparing for COP28 and reaffirm Africa's full support for a successful and ambitious outcome of COP28.
54. Request the African Union Commission to develop an implementation framework and roadmap for this Declaration and to make climate change an AU theme for the year 2025 or 2026.
ADOPTED by African Heads of State and Government in the presence of world leaders and high-level representatives on September 6, 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya
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