Addis Ababa, September 3, 2026 (FMC) — United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Claver Gatete has called on African countries to harness the continent’s renewable energy potential, critical mineral resources and human capital to take a stronger leadership role in global climate action.
Speaking at the opening of the 14th Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-XIV) in Addis Ababa, Gatete stressed that although Africa contributes less than four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, it bears the heaviest consequences of climate change.
He said Africa must not allow this reality to define its climate narrative solely through victimhood, but instead use its strategic assets to shape global climate solutions.
Gatete noted that the continent possesses enormous renewable energy potential and critical mineral resources, alongside a young population, expanding markets and growing technological capacity.
He urged African countries to harness these assets for their own development while playing a greater role in shaping the rules, investments and solutions driving global climate action.
“While this remains an unfortunate reality for our continent, we must not allow it to limit Africa’s climate story to one of victimhood,” Gatete said.
The Executive Secretary noted that the conference’s annual theme, “From Pledges to Implementation,” highlights the structural challenge of climate commitments and adaptation plans continuing to outpace delivery.
He said addressing this gap depends heavily on reforming how climate finance reaches the continent.
Gatete said Africa requires an estimated 277 billion USD annually through 2030 to implement its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), while current climate finance flows cover only about 11 percent of that requirement.
He raised concern over financing terms that could further aggravate debt burdens, stressing that the cost and conditions of climate finance are critical to effective implementation.
“The question is not simply how much finance we mobilize. We must also ask: At what cost? On what terms? And what development outcomes will it deliver?” Gatete cautioned.
He warned that for countries already facing high debt-service costs and limited fiscal space, climate finance that adds to unsustainable debt would make implementation even more difficult.
To break the financing bottleneck, Gatete called for affordable climate finance anchored in grants and concessional funding, alongside massive mobilization of private capital.
He further stressed that climate action must expand access to electricity for more than 600 million Africans without power, while leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to process local resources and build cross-border value chains at scale.
Outcomes from the three-day conference are expected to shape the Addis Ababa Climate Action Messages, framing concrete proposals for COP31 in Antalya and paving the way toward COP32 in Addis Ababa in 2027.