Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Heirs Energies and Chief Investment Officer of Heirs Holdings Group, Samuel O. Nwanze, has been named Africa CFO of the Year at the prestigious All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA) in partnership with CNBC Africa.
The remarkable accomplishment has been described as a testament to the Group Chairman, Tony O. Elumelu, and his philosophy of championing African excellence through Africapitalism. Under his leadership, the organisation has reportedly built an ecosystem that empowers leaders like Mr. Nwanze to thrive and redefine the African business landscape
The organisation added that Nwanze’s win is a direct reflection of the world-class talent and strategic ambition being built within the group.
Samuel Nwanze
It submitted: “His leadership in high-stakes finance and investment is a key driver of our success, making this award a point of pride for every one of us.
“Sam is not only a CFO in the traditional sense. He is an architect of growth, a dealmaker, and a strategic force. His journey with our group has been defined by landmark transactions and unwavering financial discipline that have reshaped our portfolio and the energy landscape in Africa.
“This award, judged by a panel of the continent’s most respected business leaders, validates what we have always known: Sam’s expertise is world-class. He is a sought-after voice at the African Union, the Milken Institute, and Oxford Saïd Business School, and his recent role as the first African on the board of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) places him at the forefront of global finance.
“Samuel Nwanze is a cornerstone of our success. His vision and execution are directly linked to our growth, stability, and ambitious future.”
A rising wave of nicotine addiction, particularly among young people, and the growing threat of illicit tobacco trade will be addressed in the coming two weeks by over 1,400 delegates representing governments, international organisations and civil society.
These urgent concerns, as well as highlighting the importance of criminal and civil liability to comprehensive tobacco control, will be among the issues on the agenda of biennial meetings of governing bodies of two landmark international health treaties – the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the WHO FCTC will meet in Geneva from November 17 to 22, followed by the Meeting of the Parties (MOP) to the Protocol from November 24 to 26, 2025.
Andrew Black, Acting Head of the Secretariat of the WHO FCTC
“The COP and the MOP provide a platform for Parties to review and strengthen the implementation of the WHO FCTC and the Protocol,” said Andrew Black, Acting Head of the Secretariat of the WHO FCTC. “These meetings will bring the world together to energise international cooperation and foster political will to address the global tobacco epidemic, which claims more than 7 million lives annually.”
The broad availability and marketing of e-cigarettes and other nicotine products and the actions governments can take, especially to protect children, will be the subject of a ministerial roundtable on the opening day of the meeting. Speakers will include the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Social Affairs of Belgium, Mr. Frank Vandenbroucke, the Minister of Public Health of Uruguay, Dr Cristina Lustemberg and the Director-General for Health and Food Safety of the European Commission, Ms. Sandra Gallina among others.
Later in the week, the COP will consider measures to prevent and reduce tobacco consumption, nicotine addiction and exposure to tobacco smoke.
Also on the opening day, an event marking 20 years since the entry into force of the WHO FCTC, one of the most rapidly and widely embraced UN treaties, will bring together government and United Nations officials, civil society and youth advocates in a high-level strategic dialogue on the meeting’s theme – Uniting Generations for a Tobacco-free Future.
Delegates to the COP also will be on hand for the launch of the 2025 Global Progress Report on implementation of the WHO FCTC.
During the six-day meeting Parties to the WHO FCTC will also have the opportunity to share their experiences in implementing the treaty, and will also consider forward-looking tobacco control measures, as well as discuss an Expert Group report on liability. Other issues on the agenda include the environment and health, as the tobacco product supply chain and tobacco use result in extensive environmental damage. For example, plastic cigarette filters are a leading single source of waste that leaching toxic chemicals into the environment and break down into microplastics.
Illicit trade of tobacco products
Following the COP, 71 Parties to the Protocol will meet from November 24 to 26, 2025. Illicit trade fuels the tobacco epidemic and undermines tobacco control by increasing access to – often cheaper – tobacco products. The availability of illicit tobacco poses a threat to public safety by weakening security and fostering corruption and organised crime.
Meanwhile, health authorities in Ethiopia are carrying out further investigations and ramping up response after suspected cases of viral haemorrhagic fever were reported in the country’s South Ethiopia Region. In support, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is deploying an initial team of responders and delivering medical supplies to assist in the ongoing efforts to determine the cause of infection and halt further transmission.
So far, eight suspected cases have been reported. Laboratory testing is ongoing at the Ethiopia Public Health Institute to determine the exact cause.
To support the national authorities, WHO is deploying a multi-disciplinary team of 11 technical officers with experience in responding to viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks to help strengthen disease surveillance, investigation, laboratory testing, infection prevention and control, clinical care, outbreak response coordination and community engagement.
WHO is also providing essential supplies including personal protective equipment for health workers and infection-prevention supplies, as well as a rapidly deployable isolation tent to bolster clinical care and management capacity. Additional technical capacity is being mobilised to support the overall response.
WHO has also released $300,000 from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies to provide immediate support to the national authorities.
Viral haemorrhagic fevers refer to a group of epidemic prone diseases that are caused by several distinct families of viruses. They include Marburg and Ebola virus diseases, Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever and Lassa fever.
Specific signs and symptoms vary by the type of viral haemorrhagic fever, but initial signs and symptoms often include marked fever, fatigue, dizziness, muscle aches, loss of strength and exhaustion. All cases of acute viral haemorrhagic fever syndrome whether single or in clusters, should be immediately notified without waiting for the causal agent to be identified.
Sahara Group, a leading energy and infrastructure conglomerate, has emphasised that deliberate and innovative human capital strategies are pivotal to positioning Africa’s energy sector for sustainable growth and competitiveness amid evolving global energy security challenges and emerging opportunities.
Speaking at the 2025 Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) Annual International Conference & Exhibition, Emilomo Arorote, Group Head, Human Resources, at Sahara Group noted that energy professionals’ curiosity, competence, and courage to act, remain the most powerful lever for transformation in a transitioning world.
L-R: Felix Oluyemi, Exploration Manager, Asharami Energy (A Sahara Group Upstream Company); Maureen Fashina, Treasury Accountant, Asharami Energy; Anna Aribatise, Reservoir Engineer, Asharami Energy; Emilomo Arorote, Group Head, Human Resources, Sahara Group; Adaora Emenike, HR Analyst, Sahara Group; and Francis Ejeke, Senior Geomodeller, Asharami Energy, at the 2025 NAPE in Lagos, Nigeria
Held under the theme “Revitalising the Nigerian Petroleum Exploration and Production Strategies for Energy Security and Sustainable Development,” this year’s NAPE Conference convened industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators to explore pathways toward achieving long-term energy security across Africa.
Highlighting the indispensable role of human ingenuity in shaping the industry’s future, she said, “Innovation in our industry has never been about systems alone, it always begins with people.” She said Sahara remained committed to driving transformative human capital development as a cornerstone for Africa’s energy sustainability.
“At Sahara, we have seen how curiosity transforms into capability when young professionals start asking the right questions. A remarkbale portion of our breakthroughs, including the landmark OKOS-04L well intervention in OML-148, were driven by young teams who dared to challenge convention and applied fresh thinking to complex problems.”
Arorote said the next frontier of the industry would depend not only on technology but also on the mindset of the people driving it.
“As we navigate the energy transition from gas-to-power integration to automation and data-driven operations, the future will belong to those who combine curiosity with patience and precision. The young professionals who will redefine Africa’s energy story are those who are willing to learn deeply, think differently, and act decisively,” she said.
Arorote said Africa’s energy sector needs to build sustainable systems to support mentorship and knowledge transfer to younger professionals to achieve robustnand globally competitive energy operations and impact. “Mentorship is a two-way bridge that allows both emerging and seasoned professionals to learn, adapt, and grow together, blending the wisdom of experience with the ingenuity of youth.”
According to Sahara Group, it’s participation at NAPE 2025 reinforces its long-standing commitment to investing in human capital, advancing digitalisation, and leveraging gas as a transition fuel for Africa’s sustainable growth.
Across its upstream, midstream, and downstream operations in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, Sahara Group says it continues to drive operational excellence and innovation while empowering young professionals to reimagine what’s possible in Africa’s energy landscape.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) says the proposed implementation of the 15 per cent of valorem import duty on imported Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and Diesel is no longer in view.
The planned 15% import duty on PMS and diesel has been suspended
The NMDPRA disclosed in a statement posted on its X handle on Thursday, November 13, 2025, and signed by the Director, Public Affairs Department, NMDPRA, George Ene-Ita.
It will be recalled that President Bola Tinubu approved the introduction of a 15 per cent ad-valorem import duty on petrol and diesel imports into Nigeria.
According to Ene-ita, the implementation of the 15 per cent ad-valorem import duty on imported Premium Motor Spirit and Diesel is no longer in view.
He also assured all that there was an adequate supply of petroleum products in the country, within the acceptable national sufficiency threshold, during this peak demand period.
The director appreciated the continued efforts of all stakeholders in the midstream and downstream value chain in ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted supply and distribution.
He said the authority would continue to closely monitor the supply situation and take appropriate regulatory measures to prevent distruption of supply and distribution of petroleum products nationwide .
“The public is hereby assured of NMDPRA’s commitment to guarantee energy security,” Ene-Ita said.
In October, President Bola Tinubu approved a 15 per cent import duty on petrol and diesel.
The government stated that the directive aimed to “strengthen local refining capacity, and ensure a stable, affordable supply of petroleum products across Nigeria.”
The government said implementation of the tariff will begin in a month’s time, after its approval.
However, the policy was met with criticism from various stakeholders, energy experts and civil societies, who argued it would skyrocket fuel prices and worsen Nigeria’s economic situation.
Convener of the International Real Estate Conference and Exhibition (IRECE), Mr. Ajayi Franklin, said Nigeria’s real estate sector has overtaken oil and gas in its contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Franklin stated this on the sidelines of a three-day International Real Estate Conference and Exhibition in Abuja on Thursday, November 13, 2025.
He said the sector now contributes about 40 per cent to Nigeria’s GDP, while oil and gas account for around four per cent.
National Housing Programme estate in Kaduna
According to him, this signals a major shift in the country’s economic structure.
“We basically have something that is less than four per cent for oil and gas or about four per cent. Real estate has by far surpassed that margin,” he said.
He described the real estate market in Nigeria and across Africa as one of the fastest-growing sectors, expanding rapidly and creating new opportunities for investors, developers, and the general public.
“It’s time to begin to have that discourse because the African market is opening up and a lot of things are happening. Developers should take advantage of it and do things differently,” Ajayi said.
The convener explained that discussions were ongoing with government stakeholders to promote affordable housing initiatives for Nigerians.
He said that the lack of access to finance, low average incomes, and high construction costs had made homeownership difficult for many citizens.
“Common Nigerians cannot afford comfortable buildings due to low incomes, high cost of construction, and a severe housing deficit.
“We’re working on something with the government that could make affordable housing a reality,” he said.
Ajayi emphasised on the importance of real estate as a basic necessity, stressing that every Nigerian, regardless of status or income, deserves decent shelter.
He urged citizens to consider property investment as a long-term opportunity, adding that demand would continue to rise due to population growth and limited land availability.
“Our land is limited; it’s not going to expand in five years. With an increasing population, there will be more demand for property and space, which will naturally make real estate more profitable,” he said.
Also speaking, Hajia Binta Ibrahim, Chairperson of the Rader National Women Developers Committee, urged developers to prioritise affordability and transparency in land acquisition.
“Developers should interact with landowners to ensure they are getting good, unencumbered lands. At the end of the day, it is the buyers who bear all the costs,” she said.
In her remarks, Ene Simon Agbo, Monarch Home and Properties, advised buyers to engage trusted real estate professionals to avoid falling victim to fraudsters.
“People should not think of bushes when buying land or property. The bush today is the city tomorrow,” Agbo said.
Similarly, Chetdan Amos of MS Properties and Project Limited, encouraged Nigerians to invest in estate housing for safety and comfort, urging them to purchase properties that suit their financial capacity.
“There are categories of buildings in every estate. You can buy studio apartments, duplexes, or high-rises, depending on your means,” he said.
IRECE brought together industry stakeholders, developers, policymakers, and investors to discuss opportunities and challenges within Nigeria’s expanding real estate market.
Even though governments are increasingly prioritising national interests in their economic and financial policies, these very priorities can still offer ways to achieve greater cooperation in tackling global warming.
This is the central message of a joint discussion paper presented on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at the COP30 climate conference by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the research team at KfW, one of the world’s leading promotional banks. The paper highlights the growing need for investment in fossil-free technologies and outlines incentive mechanisms for new international cooperation.
Keeping global warming below 1.5°C in the long run requires global CO₂ emissions to be reduced to net zero by the middle of the century. According to the authors, this will require a much faster ramp-up of investment in CO₂-free energy.
Ottmar Edenhofer, Chief Economist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and author of the paper
While global investment in 2024 is estimated at around $2 trillion, annual needs are closer to $6 trillion up to 2050. If the current pace continues, an investment gap of $26 trillion would accumulate by 2036. In the Global South, investments would have to rise six- to nine-fold compared with current levels.
The paper by PIK and KfW Research highlights three key reasons why financing climate action in the Global South also serves the economic interests of wealthier countries: First, climate investments anywhere help limit climate damages, because the greenhouse effect does not respect national borders. Second, a truly global shift to fossil-free technologies can spur innovation and new industries at home. And third, a shift in the global balance of power away from dependence on oil-exporting countries can strengthen national sovereignty and energy resilience.
Minilateral cooperation as key strategy in geopolitically tense times
CO₂ emissions are currently rising at a particularly rapid pace in middle-income countries. Reversing this trend requires effective mechanisms that create incentives for cooperation and ensure that international climate finance delivers real results. The European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which encourages trading partners to raise their climate ambitions, has great potential in this regard.
Another approach is a funding system that rewards countries based on the actual implementation of climate action. The analysis shows that large fossil fuel-importing economies could benefit from financial cooperation to support the energy transition in the Global South. Model simulations suggest that a “minilateral” coalition between the EU and China as investor countries, for example, could cut global demand for oil, gas and coal while also benefitting coalition partners more than it would cost them.
Such cooperation therefore not only benefits the planet but also supports national prosperity, due to the so-called terms-of-trade effect – reduced demand for fossil fuels lowers global demand and thus the world market price, which in turn reduces costs for domestic consumers. The avoided climate damage is an additional benefit.
Turning global challenges into new opportunities
“This example illustrates that geopolitical tensions and national interests need not stand in the way of effective global climate protection,” says PIK Director Ottmar Edenhofer, author of the paper.
“Joint action can emerge from national interests if the right incentive structures are in place. The EU’s carbon pricing combined with the new CBAM climate tariffs already illustrate this. Other countries are now introducing CO₂ prices – not out of green idealism, but because it benefits prosperity and growth.”
With US President Donald Trump skipping the UN’s climate summit in the Amazon, California Governor Gavin Newsom grabbed the spotlight on Tuesday, November 12, 2025, and unleashed a barrage of attacks on the fossil fuel agenda of his political nemesis.
The well-coiffed Democrat – seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate – blasted Trump for twice leaving the Paris climate accord and for “doubling down on stupid” through his support of Big Oil.
Newsom said a future Democratic administration would rejoin the Paris Agreement “without hesitation.”
California Governor, Gavin Newsom
“It’s a moral commitment, it’s an economic imperative,” Newsom said in response to a question by AFP in Belem, the Brazilian Amazon city in northern Para state hosting the climate summit known as COP30.
It is “an abomination that he has twice, not once, pulled away from the accords.”
After returning to office in January, Trump withdrew the United States from the landmark Paris deal for a second time — the first was during his first term — and he has sneered at the idea of human-caused planetary warming, calling it a “con job.”
Newsom’s first appearance of the day came alongside Helder Barbalho, governor of Para, where he touted California’s green credentials between bites of tropical fruit and sips of acai juice – noting that the Golden State, the world’s fourth-largest economy, is now two-thirds powered by renewables.
He then launched into a whirlwind of meetings and press events with officials from Germany’s Baden-Wurttemberg state, Brazil’s minister for Indigenous Peoples and the Brazilian president of COP30 — all the while trailed by large media scrums normally reserved for national leaders.
Not part of negotiations
Still, there are limits. Regional leaders have no part of official negotiations at COP30, which opened on Monday with urgent calls to stay the course on climate action.
New Mexico Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, who also attended events on Tuesday, acknowledged these constraints.
“Certainly, our meetings with leaders at the UN and others was to demonstrate that we’re interested in any possibility that does more about that direct negotiation and representation,” she said.
Her aim in coming, she added, was to show that “when the federal government leans in, we do more, and when they lean out, we do more. It’s both.”
But Christiana Figueres, an architect of the Paris Agreement, said the summit was better off without Trump’s government showing up.
“I actually think it is a good thing,” she said, suggesting that while the United States may work behind the scenes with petrostates including Saudi Arabia, “they can not take the floor” and directly bully other nations.
‘Trump is temporary’
Even without a seat at the table, US states and cities have concrete power.
A recent analysis by the University of Maryland found that if these governments ramp up their efforts – and a climate-friendly president is elected in 2028 – US emissions could fall by well over 50 percent by 2035, approaching the 61-66 percent reduction targeted by Biden’s administration.
“The president can’t throw a switch and turn everything off – that’s not how our system works,” Nate Hultman, who led the report, told AFP.
The market-driven green shift remains a strong factor including in US states with climate-hostile leadership, like Texas, the country’s renewable energy generation leader last year, added Hultman, who previously worked for Democratic presidents.
Even so there are questions over how far state-level action can go without federal support. Trump’s Republicans recently passed a law bringing an early end to clean energy tax credits, seen as a potentially crippling blow to the renewable sector.
Beyond pushing for more drilling at home and declaring war on green energy, Trump’s administration recently torpedoed international efforts to impose a carbon tax on shipping by vowing reprisals against countries that backed the plan.
Newsom urged nations to hold firm against further intimidation efforts, saying it was vital to remember “Trump is temporary” and that “you stand up to a bully.”
African climate negotiators have outlined a unified set of priorities for the major UN climate change conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, highlighting climate finance as top priority.
Chair of the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN), Dr. Richard Muyungi, says COP30 must deliver “ambitious, balanced, fair and just outcomes across adaptation, mitigation, loss and damage, and climate finance,” emphasising that negotiations must be anchored in the latest science and the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR–RC).
Chair the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), Dr. Richard Muyungi
He warned that despite contributing less than 4% of global emissions, Africa faces rapidly intensifying climate impacts and requires outcomes that reflect its “special needs, developmental context, and heightened vulnerability.”
The negotiators called for a clear alignment between financing flows and the ambition reflected in countries’ next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs 3.0).
Key demands include concrete steps to operationalise US$1.3 trillion annually by 2030 and the US$300 billion climate finance goal.
This year’s global climate summit kicked off in the Amazonian city of Belém in Brazil, amid a warning from United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, that the world is not doing enough to combat the crisis, and strategic compromises over the elements of the official agenda of the summit.
At the opening plenary, the UN climate chief said the world is not moving fast enough to confront the climate crisis but was quick to note that global cooperation had at least prevented “an impossible future” of runaway heating.
“We have so much more work to do. We must move much, much faster; both in reducing emissions and in strengthening resilience,” he told delegates.
Stiell credited the Paris Agreement, adopted 10 years ago, with bending the curve of projected global heating from as high as 5°C to below 3°C, saying “it is still perilous, but it proves that climate cooperation works”.
He said success now depends on two interlinked pillars: stronger, more credible national climate plans, the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs); and the financing to make them possible.
“Plans without finance cannot reach their full potential,” he said.
Finance is the great accelerator
Stiell pointed to the Baku to Belém Roadmap, a new initiative that seeks to increase global climate finance from about US$300 billion a year to US$1.3 trillion by 2035, describing it as a shared investment in “stability and prosperity” and noting that countries acting fastest on clean energy would reap the greatest economic benefits.
“Every dollar invested in climate solutions brings multiple dividends; jobs, cleaner air, better health, resilient supply chains, and stronger energy and food security,” he said.
Supporters hailed the roadmap as an ambitious but necessary step to close the gap between climate pledges and real-world funding.
Brazil, hosting COP30 under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, described the roadmap as “a blueprint for collective resolve.” The Brazilian delegation urged negotiators to focus on fairness and delivery rather than rhetoric.
“The science is clear, the moral imperative undeniable. What remains is the resolve,” they said.
Mohamed Adow, founder and director, Power Shift Africa, said: “COP30 must deliver the priorities for Africa and the wider developing world which are clear: we need a fair deal that delivers finance for adaptation in vulnerable countries and supports a just transition to renewable energy.
“These are not acts of charity, but investments in a stable, liveable planet. We need to see the sharing of clean energy technology by the global north with the global south, and we need to see more national climate plans published by all countries, laying out how we’re going to accelerate the momentum towards a safe and prosperous planet for us all.”
Over the next two weeks, the COP30 Presidency is understood to be positioning the summit as a political reckoning that will test whether the Paris Agreement, the crown jewel of international climate diplomacy, can still deliver results at scale.
Growing fatigue in climate process
Since 2015, global emissions have plateaued but not fallen fast enough. The 1.5°C target, the threshold scientists warn the world must stay below to avoid catastrophic consequences, is slipping out of reach.
The Belém conference comes amid growing fatigue and distrust in the global climate process, particularly over financing and equity. The Baku to Belém Roadmap aims to restore faith by setting a long-term financing goal, but key questions remain unanswered: who pays, how much, and under what terms.
Omar Elmawi, Convenor of the Africa Movement of Movements, noted: “We cannot keep sailing blindly into a climate apocalypse while pretending everything is merry. COP30 must be the turning point, where words become action, and promises become justice. Over eight billion people globally are looking at Belém to be the moment we will all look back to and celebrate and not one we curse.”
For Africa, COP30 is a moment of reckoning. The continent contributes less than 4 per cent of global emissions but bears the heaviest costs of climate change, from droughts and cyclones to collapsing agricultural yields and energy insecurity.
African negotiators have consistently argued that without predictable, affordable finance, developing nations cannot deliver on their commitments. The Baku to Belém Roadmap could be transformative if implemented fairly, ensuring that new funds reach life-saving adaptation projects in vulnerable communities, not just emissions reductions in middle-income economies.
African countries are also demanding a rebalancing of the climate finance equation to include more grants, fewer debt-driven instruments, and direct access for local governments and institutions.
The hope is that the roadmap will address long-standing inequalities that have left Africa sidelined when it comes to green investment.
The Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, launched the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change at COP30, establishing shared international commitments to address climate disinformation and promote accurate, evidence-based information on climate issues.
The Declaration commits signatories to promote the integrity of information related to climate change at international, national and local levels, in line with international human rights law and the principles of the Paris Agreement.
Drafted in collaboration with civil society members of the Global Initiative Advisory Group, the Declaration has been endorsed by 10 countries so far – Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay.
Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General
“Climate change is no longer a threat of the future; it is a tragedy of the present,” said President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Belém. “We live in an era in which obscurantists reject scientific evidence and attack institutions. It is time to deliver yet another defeat to denialism.”
The Declaration calls on governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and funders to take concrete action to counter the growing impact of disinformation, misinformation, denialism and deliberate attacks on environmental journalists, defenders, scientists and researchers that undermine climate action and threaten societal stability.
“We must fight mis- and disinformation, online harassment, and greenwashing,” said UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, in the lead-up to COP30. “Through the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change, Governments and organisations are working together to fund research and action promoting information integrity on climate issues. Scientists and researchers should never fear telling the truth.”
“Without access to reliable information about climate disruption we can never hope to overcome it. Through this initiative, we will support the journalists and researchers investigating climate issues, sometimes at great risk to themselves, and fight the climate-related disinformation running rampant on social media,” urged Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s Director-General, at the launch of the Initiative.
The Declaration emphasises that mobilising all actors in society requires access to consistent, reliable, accurate and evidence-based information on climate change, which is indispensable for raising awareness, fostering public participation, enabling accountability and building public trust in urgent climate policies and actions.
Key Commitments
Under the Declaration, signatories commit to:
Promote the integrity of information related to climate change in line with international human rights law, including freedom of expression standards
Support the sustainability of a diverse and resilient media ecosystem to ensure accurate and reliable coverage on climate and environmental issues
Support the inclusion of information integrity commitments into the Action for Climate Empowerment agenda under the UNFCCC
Promote informed and inclusive climate action by advancing equitable access to accurate, evidence-based, understandable information for all
Foster cooperation and capacity-building to address threats to information integrity, safeguarding those reporting on and researching climate issues
With resources falling short of needs globally, the Declaration calls on governments to ensure funds to research climate information integrity, especially in developing countries.
It also urges the private sector to commit to information integrity in their business practices and ensure transparent, human-rights responsible advertising practices that bolster information integrity and support reliable journalism.
Four New Countries Join the Initiative
The Global Initiative announced that Belgium, Canada, Finland and Germany have joined as new member countries, bringing the total membership of States to thirteen.
This expanded membership reflects growing international recognition that threats to information integrity represent one of the defining challenges of our time, weakening the foundations of public debate and undermining societies’ capacity to build collective solutions to the climate crisis.
Global Fund Supports First Projects
Since its launch in June 2025, the Initiative’s Global Fund for Information Integrity on Climate Change has received 447 proposals from nearly 100 countries. With initial funding of $1 million from the Government of Brazil, the Fund has begun supporting its first wave of projects across multiple continents, with nearly two-thirds of eligible proposals originating from the Global South.
The Declaration recognises the central role of the Global Initiative in strengthening global cooperation to uphold the integrity of information related to climate change and calls on funders to donate to the Global Fund and support projects that promote information integrity locally, nationally and internationally.
A new civil-society report, “Inequity, Inequality, Inaction”, has delivered a stark verdict: three decades after the Rio Earth Summit and a decade on from the Paris Agreement, governments are still protecting profits over people – shielded by elite capture and fossil-fuel disinformation. Climate cooperation is breaking down, and COP30 must deliver a fair-shares reset rooted in justice, not greed.
The report shows that Global North countries have failed to cut emissions and are still expanding oil and gas, while also failing to deliver promised finance. The global finance system is failing too: instead of providing public funds at the scale needed, it traps many countries in debt and dependence.
Greenhouse gas increases: Global North countries have failed to cut emissions and are still expanding oil and gas. Photo credit: earthtimes.org
While the Global South is closer to meeting its fair share, it still needs to take more effective climate action but is all too often held back by this debt and lack of funds. Climate cooperation is paralysed, and global goals will remain out of reach unless COP30 delivers a reset – moving from loans to grants, from profit-driven finance to public support that enables countries to invest in clean energy, resilience, and jobs.
The collapse of ambition at COP29 in Baku left trust in ruins and cooperation stalled. The Global South’s calls for trillions in real public finance were met with token pledges and false accounting, leaving the poorest nations trapped between debt and disaster. COP30 in Belém is therefore more than another negotiation – it is a chance to rebuild trust, deliver fair shares, and keep climate ambition alive.
The report also warns that inequality within countries is driving the crisis. The global rich can shield themselves from many climate impacts while pushing the costs of transition and disaster onto workers and overstretched public systems. This elite capture – particularly by fossil fuel interests – of crucial political processes is deepening injustice, fuelling political paralysis, and blocking the stronger action needed to keep us within climate limits. This paralysis extends to militarised conflicts that divert trillions from climate action – COP30 must redirect those resources to peace and genuine multilateral cooperation.
In the face of this systemic failure, incrementalism is obsolete. COP30 must confront this political reality with a new climate realism – one that pushes ahead with rapid transformative change anchored in equity, justice, and cooperation.
Climate failure isn’t about a lack of ambition – it’s about injustice. COP30 must prove that ambition and justice are not opposites but inseparable: only fair shares can unlock the scale of action needed.
What COP30 must deliver
The report identifies three breakthroughs COP30 must achieve:
1. Fair-shares NDCs: clear commitments on finance and fossil fuel phaseout.
2. A finance reset: a radical overhaul of international financial architecture, shifting from debt and loans to substantial public, grant-based support, including debt cancellation and global taxation.
3. Just transition frameworks: putting workers, women, youth, and Indigenous peoples at the centre, breaking elite capture through progressive taxes and zero-carbon economic shifts, while redirecting militarised resources towards peace, cooperation, and strengthened democratic institutions and human rights law, with protection for jobs, schools, healthcare, housing, and transport.
Tasneem Essop, Executive Director, Climate Action Network International, said:“Climate ambition and climate justice are not competing visions – they are one and the same. But both are being strangled by elite capture and fossil lies. Belém must break that grip, reset cooperation on fair shares, and put power back in the hands of people and communities. The Global North must end its wealth hoarding and deliver its overdue debt – in trillions for climate finance, in a rapid fossil-fuel phaseout, and in restoring trust through real solidarity, not empty rhetoric.”
Hemantha Withanage, Chair, Friends of the Earth International:“Ten years after the Paris Agreement we see the familiar story of wealthy Global North countries falling far short of delivering their fair share of emissions reductions and international climate finance, even as they gaslight and blame larger Global South countries for the accelerating climate crisis.
“Conversely, the majority of Global South countries, despite facing severe climate impacts, have made pledges close to, or exceeding their fair share of climate action. What is stark in this analysis is the role of elites in perpetuating this disastrous and willful inaction. We must tackle inequality and elite emissions by confronting power, privilege, and historical injustice and fighting for system change.”
Alex Rafalowicz, Executive Director of the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative: “The new report shows how fossil fuels drive inequality in every sense – within nations, enriching elites at the expense of the people, and between nations, trapping vulnerable countries in poverty and debt. It reveals decades of sabotage: wealthy countries expanding fossil fuel exploitation while depriving the Global South of financing. We must end this injustice by tackling its source: delivering fair-share funding, equitably phasing out fossil fuels, and prioritising people over profits.
“This crisis has never been about a lack of solutions but about making the right political choices. Countries like Colombia and the Small Island States are leading the charge to build a fossil-free future through a Fossil Fuel Treaty. They are proving that true climate leadership comes from those most impacted, not from polluters blocking progress. The path forward is clear; the question is whether governments will finally follow the courage of those already leading the way.”
Niranjali Amerasinghe, Executive Director, ActionAid USA:“After 10 years of the Paris Agreement, it is absolutely unacceptable that rich developed countries are failing to contribute their fair share of climate action. These countries – especially the United States – have not cut emissions sufficiently in the past decade. Worse, they also are not making meaningful commitments to accelerate action in the future, even as global temperature goals are breached and the science is extremely clear that much more urgency is needed from the world’s historical polluters.
“On top of that, rich countries are also failing utterly to provide climate finance – support for poorer and more vulnerable countries to implement their own climate goals. Climate finance is a cornerstone of the Paris Agreement; without it, the entire structure of international climate cooperation falls apart. Rich countries must do their part – there is no time left to wait.”
Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator, Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, APMDD:“The Report proves that the NDCs approach to international climate action where governments simply define what they are willing to do without any due regard for the consequences for the common climate goal, or for the principles of equity and fairness, and for what the science says is failing. Governments must be compelled through citizens actions to do what is right for humanity and for the planet. This is a call that we, all citizens of the world, must step up and escalate pressure on all governments, but especially those from the Global North.”
Mark Lutes, WWF Senior Advisor Global Climate Policy: “At a time when the need for scaled up climate action and support is blindingly obvious, and global conflicts and authoritarianism threaten to displace cooperation and multilateral institutions, a principled equitable approach to global climate action is more important than ever. This report cuts through the excuses and provides a clear vision for who should do what when as part of a fair and equitable effort-sharing to meet our shared climate objectives.”
Mariana Paoli, Global Advocacy Lead, Christian Aid: “This year’s report is a wake-up call for the climate community and beyond. The energy transition we urgently need – one that phases out fossil fuels and centres fairness – will not happen without a radical shift in the global economy and a deep reform of the international financial system. Without structural change, climate action will continue to fall short.”
“The climate crisis is a justice crisis. Developed countries must take responsibility not only for their failure to deliver meaningful climate action, but also for perpetuating a global economic system that entrenches inequality and neo-colonial control. To unlock real progress, we need to democratise economic decision-making and redirect financial flows toward the global South. It’s time for wealthy nations to act in the interests of the global majority.”
Tom Athanasiou, Climate Equity Reference Project:“Paris could have been a turning point. It posited a world in which all countries – both the wealthy and the rest – would do their parts, as they saw them, to stabilise the climate system. The Paris Agreement wasn’t ideal – there were no agreed national fair shares, and of course there was no enforcement. But there was a chance, and it was real.
“Today, 10 years later, the guarded hope has dissipated. How could it not, when the wealthy have utterly failed to do their fair shares? The Global South countries – with important exceptions – have done better, but absent the finance and technology support they need to leapfrog to a post-carbon world, it has not been enough. They have not been able to break the death grip of the fossil fuel complex.
“In this report, we’ve looked back upon the squandered opportunities of the last decade and drawn conclusions. We have, in particular, concluded that the finger of blame must be pointed at the world’s rich, who have used their wealth to amass far too much political power, and used that power to service their conceits and self-interests. This is not exactly news, but neither have the dots been clearly connected.
“The brutal fact is that the world’s rich could easily afford to finance a global just transition. The necessary expenditures, though huge, are far smaller than their holdings. They would hardly know the difference. There is little time now. Even as the government’s deadlock, the natural world is hitting its first tipping points. This really is, now, the time of consequences.”
