COP30 in Belém, Brazil, is a pivotal moment for Africa’s climate and development agenda.
African countries are pushing for a just and orderly energy transition, more ambitious 2035 NDCs, tripling of adaptation finance, clear roadmaps for transitioning away from fossil fuels and halting deforestation, and stronger outcomes on loss and damage, finance, and equity.
Within this context, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) plays a dual role: as a key institutional partner in the Africa Pavilion and as a strategic technical backstop for the African Group of Negotiators (AGN).
The Africa Pavilion, jointly convened by AfDB, AUC, UNECA, AUDA-NEPAD and Afreximbank under the ClimDev-Africa partnership, serves as Africa’s core platform in the Blue Zone for showcasing priorities, building partnerships and coordinating political messaging. UNECA has actively contributed to the planning, communications and branding of the Pavilion and participated in pre-sessional meetings aimed at aligning African positions ahead of COP30.
Over the two weeks, the Pavilion hosted over thirty thematic sessions on climate finance, carbon markets, adaptation, multilateral financing, children’s rights, the blue economy, NDC implementation, peace and security, and ecological restoration. Africa Day is the flagship moment, where UNECA joined other continental institutions to present a united narrative that climate and development goals must converge and that finance architectures must be reformed to deliver fair, predictable, largely concessional resources for Africa.
UNECA led and co-led several high-impact events within the Africa Pavilion. One outstanding finance innovation showcased was the Climate Action Window of the African Development Fund, which is geared towards bridging gaps in adaptation, mitigation and technical assistance financing. The second was the launch of the Adaptation Finance Window for Africa (AFWA), under the Investment Mobilisation Collaboration Alliance, which uses blended finance to mobilize private investment for adaptation and resilience, backed by catalytic capital and technical assistance. UNECA also co-organized the session “Towards a Just Transition: Financing Africa’s move from Coal to Sustainable Energy Sources”, which explored pathways for a just, orderly and equitable energy transition, including options such as nuclear power and the use of carbon credits under Article 6. Further sessions on accelerating delivery of Africa’s NDCs, and on climate, peace and security, highlighted the links between climate impacts, fragility and conflict, emphasizing the need to integrate climate–peace–security considerations into adaptation and finance mechanisms, including the Loss and Damage Fund. Through evidence such as the opportunity cost of African public expenditure on climate change, UNECA reframed Africa’s fiscal sacrifices as an element of climate justice that should inform negotiations on finance, loss and damage and debt relief.
Beyond events, the Pavilion is deliberately used as a political and technical hub where UNECA facilitated bilateral meetings, networking and strategy sessions with ministers, negotiators, development partners and non-state actors. This space enabled coherent backstopping of the AGN by providing a venue for regular briefings on negotiation status, as well as for coordinating messaging across African institutions and member States.
UNECA’s support to the African Group of Negotiators at COP30 is both substantive and procedural. On the substantive side, UNECA provides strategic guidance and technical analysis for the AGN Chair and lead negotiators across key Paris Agreement tracks: Article 9.1 public climate finance, the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), the Global Goal on Adaptation and its indicators, just transition and unilateral trade measures, energy transition and the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels roadmap, nature and deforestation, loss and damage, and Article 6 carbon markets. UNECA continuously tracks negotiation developments, identifies blockages, especially around predictable public finance, and distils implications for Africa’s ability to implement its NDCs and adaptation plans.
Procedurally, UNECA helps ensure that AGN positions are grounded in a broad African constituency. It supports and participates in pre-sessional strategy meetings and in daily AGN and G77 and China briefings, and co-convened negotiation status updates for member States, civil society and partners. These exchanges allow UNECA to feed its analytical work and pavilion outcomes on adaptation finance, just transition,climate–peace–security and the opportunity costs of climate spending back into AGN talking points and ministerial messaging. They also help non-Party stakeholders understand the constraints and opportunities negotiators face, reinforcing solidarity around Africa’s priorities.
Overall, UNECA’s role at COP30 combined technical backstopping, evidence generation and high-level convening. By shaping the Africa Pavilion programme, advancing concrete initiatives such as AFWA, and working closely with the AGN, UNECA helps ensure that Africa’s unified messages on equity, climate–development convergence and fair, predictable public finance are clearly articulated in Belém and carried into the next phases of the global climate negotiations.
