The convening of the African Climate Summit is a moment that is at once filled with determined hope and profound urgency. Hopeful, because it represents an unprecedented opportunity for Africa to collectively articulate its vision for a resilient, green, and sovereign future. Urgent, because it unfolds against a backdrop of devastating climate impacts and a global financial system that continues to marginalize the continent most vulnerable to a crisis it did not create.
This September, as our Finance Ministers gather under the theme “Financing for Africa’s Resilient and Green Development,” the #FundItForward campaign anchors its advocacy through an open letter to African Finance Ministers in a clear, non-negotiable demand: Africa must transition from a narrative of vulnerability to a position of power, securing the resources and justice required to build from the inside out.
Why This Summit Matters Now
The world is amid a great recalibration, a global energy transition, a realignment of economic power, and a reckoning with historical responsibility. These are not minor policy shifts; they are major movements that will define global equity and development for decades to come. And yet, Africa, despite holding the world’s most critical assets for this transition from mineral wealth to solar potential, remains on the sidelines of the decision-making rooms where its future is being bargained.
The African Climate Summit is a test of political will. It will reveal whether our leaders can unite to reject the false solutions and broken promises of the past and instead champion a new financial pact built on justice, transparency, and self-determination.
The Core of Our Demand: Three Pillars for a Just Transition
Our call to Africa’s Finance Ministers in our open letter is built on three non-negotiable pillars:
1. Deliverable Finance and Debt Justice:
How can a continent be asked to invest in its future when it is shackled to its past? For many African nations, debt servicing costs surpass spending on healthcare and education combined, crippling our ability to fund climate resilience. The demand for $300 billion in annual climate finance is not a request for aid; it is what is owed for climate damages. This funding must be delivered as grants, not debt-producing loans. Furthermore, comprehensive debt cancellation is not merely economic relief, it is the key that unlocks fiscal sovereignty, allowing us to invest in renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, and green jobs for the youth.
2. Champion African Solutions, Reject Climate Colonialism
The same exploitative practices are re-emerging dressed in green. Carbon markets and other offset mechanisms often serve as accounting tricks for major polluters, frequently at the expense of African communities. We’ve seen the warnings:
- In Northern Kenya, carbon projects have restricted pastoralists’ access to ancestral lands.
- The Kariba REDD+ project in Zimbabwe has faced intense scrutiny over its benefits to local communities.
- In Uganda, initiatives like the Kikonda Forest project have raised concerns about community land rights and food sovereignty.
Africa does not need more risky schemes. It needs investment in home-grown solutions: community-owned solar micro-grids, sovereign green bonds for agroecology, and regional adaptation funds that empower those on the frontlines.
3. Radical Transparency and Accessible Governance
Too often, climate finance vanishes into a maze of bureaucracy and intermediaries, never reaching the communities who need it most. We demand absolute transparency, open-data platforms that track every dollar in real time. Moreover, the governance of global climate funds must be reformed. African civil society including women’s groups, youth representatives, and frontline communities should have mandated seats on decision-making committees. This ensures that finance is directed by local knowledge and reaches those it is intended to serve.
The Stakes of Solidarity
This is not just about finance; it is about sovereignty. The decisions made at this summit will determine whether Africa enters the new green economy as a leader or a dependent; whether our minerals fuel our own industrialization or are extracted to power others’ growth; whether our communities thrive or are further displaced.
The #FundItForward campaign affirms that:
The future is sovereign! The future is transparent!! The future is built on justice!!!
The African Climate Summit must be the moment our leaders move beyond rhetoric. They must return to their people not with promises, but with binding commitments that place the well-being of Africans and the health of our planet at the core of the global financial architecture.