Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga, UN Climate Change director has said that it is urgent for countries in the global north to scale up climate finance to support Africa’s adaptation and resilience efforts.
Speaking on the margins of the 20th Ordinary Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), she underscored that “Climate finance is not just a political choice – it is a matter of survival, of development, of dignity and of equity.”
At last year’s COP29 Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, all nations reached an agreement on a new climate finance goal of $300 billion annually by 2030 to flow to developing countries, to be scaled up to $1.3 trillion by 2035.
“The $300 billion must be a floor, not a ceiling – and it must translate into predictable, accessible finance for those who need it most,” stressed Kinuthia-Njenga.
According to her, the UNFCCC is working to strengthen institutional frameworks that can help African countries access sustainable climate finance.
“We are working to ensure that climate finance architecture responds to African priorities,” she said.
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Africa is on the frontlines of the climate crisis, losing up to 9% of its GDP annually to climate impacts, while trillions of dollars are needed to meet energy, adaptation, and resilience goals. This challenge is compounded by a constrained fiscal environment where, in many countries, more is spent on debt servicing than on climate or health.
Leaders and stakeholders gathered at the United Nations Office in Nairobi, in Kenya, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a landmark accord that has shaped global climate policy for the past decade.
Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga, who is director at the UNFCCC Intergovernmental Support and Collective Progress Division, stressed that “the Paris Agreement is delivering real progress, even if it has not yet solved the climate crisis. But it has changed the course of human history. It has proved that climate cooperation can deliver when it matters most.”
Over the past decade, the Paris Agreement has guided unprecedented climate action, yet the world remains off track to limit warming to 1.5°C, but “without Paris, we’d still be heading for over 5 degrees of warming.”
The impacts of the rising temperature, extreme weather, droughts, floods, and loss of livelihoods are still a reality, particularly in Africa, the region most vulnerable to climate change despite contributing the least to the problem.
“Because African countries are not just on the frontlines of climate impacts: they are also on the frontlines of climate solutions,” Cecilia told the AMCEN Ministerial Dialogue.
The event concluded with a call to strengthen collaboration ahead of COP30, ensuring Africa’s priorities shape global climate action and the next Global Stocktake.
Story was adapted from environewsnigeria.
