Africa can benefit from new global climate alliances

US President Donald Trump’s attack on the global climate agenda is a risk in a world that increasingly suffers more intense extreme weather events and negative climate impacts. 

But as fresh climate leadership emerges, new alliances are beginning to look promising. One is a new France-China initiative that is the vanguard of a broader European Union (EU)-China partnership on climate change. Can Africa become a net beneficiary of these movements?

In March this year, when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, he reiterated China’s commitment to international cooperation to address climate challenges and the need for global climate governance. Then in May, France’s environmental minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, met China’s ecology and environment minister, Huang Runqiu, regarding Washington’s changed position on climate. 

This year, China restated its pledge to the Paris Agreement and to promote the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, in November. France committed to advocating for a closer partnership between the EU and China, which – if declared at the Beijing-Brussels summit in July – would be a landmark agreement.

The EU has long been recognised as a leading voice in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations, and has made important strides to decrease its member states’ emissions. 

China, often labelled as a laggard in the negotiations, is in fact a leading nation in energy transition – especially on the roll-out of renewable energy and electric vehicles. It has the largest increase in renewable energy build and electric vehicle development globally. China appears to have surpassed its emissions peak target in 2025, originally scheduled for 2030, and seems on track to achieve its net zero target by 2060, or possibly earlier. 

It is also recognised as the leading global supplier of renewable energy technologies. Green growth has been an important part of its economic success in recent years, resulting in the World Economic Forum recognising China as a driver of the global transition.

Africa, on the other hand, continues to experience regular climate catastrophes, despite its minuscule contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. Pockets of excellence on the continent include Namibia’s green hydrogen, mega solar farms in Morocco, wind energy in Kenya and energy transition procurement stimulus in South Africa. 

But the World Resources Institute says 80% of the global energy deficit is in Africa, which in 2022 received only 2% of global renewable energy investment. 

Africa already has strong relationships with the EU and China. There is the Africa-EU Green Energy Initiative with the goal of 50,000MW of new renewables by 2030 to benefit 100 million people in Africa. The EU and individual European countries are supporting Just Energy Transitions in Senegal and South Africa. The EU-Africa Global Gateway Investment Package has pledged €150-million for energy infrastructure projects in Africa.

China partners with 40 African countries on solar, wind, hydropower and biomass projects. This has resulted in 120GW of new power and 66,000km of grid lines. The newly launched Africa Solar Belt initiative has promise. 

Since 2010, a fifth of China’s renewable energy foreign direct investments and construction activity have been in Africa, valued at $66-million. African and Chinese ministers met this month to assess implementation of outcomes from the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) Summit. The progress report indicated that Chinese enterprises are partnering in African clean energy projects to the tune of $2.94-billion, and a Special Fund for Green Industrialisation has been established.

Given these strong foundations, Africa must be assertive and proactive in its relationships with the EU and China. A value-add can also be developed by triangulating the Africa-Europe-China partnerships in climate and energy projects. 

Africa should use upcoming meetings – like the African Union-EU Summit later this year marking the partnership’s 25th anniversary – to promote the continent’s green development ambitions and improve climate adaptation and disaster management capacity. 

Africa should also lead in the further roll-out of the Focac Beijing Action Plan (2025-2027). This must go beyond technical assistance and capacity-building to genuine industrialisation partnerships involving the local beneficiation of low-carbon economy enablers like Africa’s critical minerals.

The finance agenda must include achieving the increased targets agreed to at COP28, and should address one of the core obstacles – Africa’s unwieldy debt burden. The figures are alarming. Total external debt stands at about 24.5% of combined gross domestic product, totalling $685.5-billion, with debt servicing projected to cost $88.7-billion in 2025. 

Twenty African countries are facing bankruptcy, and the EU and China are major creditors for African debt. One significant initiative to pursue is innovative financing through such mechanisms as “debt for climate swaps”, cancelling debt in favour of climate action. A second is using the carbon credit market mechanisms in article 6 of the Paris Agreement to Africa’s advantage. 

Africa should pursue this approach not only in its bilateral summits with these key partners, but also lobby to have this prioritised in the key forums including the 2025 Beijing-Brussels Summit, Johannesburg G20 and COP30. This will deepen existing alliances and attract other potential partners to be part of a great African climate action story. DM 

Dhesigen Naidoo, research associate, Climate Risk and Human Security Project, Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

First published by ISS Today.