As COP30 draws near and countries prepare their positions, a group of over 30 African stakeholders have issued a seven-point communiqué calling for urgent coordinated action that links climate ambition to development needs.

The communiqué, which was issued at the end of a workshop convened by the Society for Planet and Prosperity on Friday, October 31, 2025, to shape Africa’s negotiating position ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil, framed Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as practical roadmaps for national development, stressing that, for NDCs to be effective, they must be ambitious, feasible, harmonised with national development plans, and backed by an inclusive process rooted in the continent’s social and economic realities.

The seven-point communiqué set out clear political and operational asks calling on African governments to treat the climate crisis as a developmental emergency that requires sustained effort from states, the private sector and communities; defending the spirit of multilateralism even as some countries seek to evade historical responsibility; using NDCs as a platform for cooperative engagement with developed partners under the Paris Agreement, African Union Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals.

A central demand of the stakeholders is the importance of continued support from developed countries. They thus called on developed countries to continue providing the “requisite financial (grant and concession-based), technological, and technical support” that African states need to implement NDCs.

They further urged donor and finance institutions to prioritise bankable, community-led projects that scale local innovations into pipelines that will be attractive to investors.

Alongside finance and technology, the statement stressed the need for inclusive processes that integrate gender, youth and community voices at every stage of NDCs development and implementation.

The workshop also featured an expert panel session, with panelists x-raying challenges and proffering possible solutions as we prepare for the COP30 negotiations and its outcomes.

Mrs. Gbemisola Akosa, Executive Director, Centre for 21^st Century Issues (C21st), provided the gender perspective. Acknowledging that about 85% of African countries have incorporated gender into their NDCs, she emphasised the need for gender-responsive climate actions, gender-disaggregated data, and gender budgeting in NDCs, while noting that current climate finance for gender and women’s issues remains insufficient.

“We need to ensure that, not only that we are putting gender equality in our policies, but also, that we are implementing it on the ground getting the desired result,” she said.

Discussing the challenges and progress of the Paris Agreement’s NDC cycle, Iskander Vernoit, Executive Director, IMAL Initiative for Climate and Development, highlighted the disappointment over finance commitment outcomes at COP29. He emphasised the need for increased ambition, the importance of the global stocktake and the role of finance in NDCs Implementation.

“As much as we don’t bear the responsibility for climate damages, and in a just world, we would not have to pay for them. We are being obliged as African countries to pay for these things because of a lack of justice at the international level, and because the historic polluters from Europe and so on are not fulfilling their climate finance obligations in a way that would ensure equity. But, even in the absence of that international climate finance, as African governments, we have obligations to protect our citizens, which cannot wait,” he said.

Iskander also described Morocco’s NDC development process, which involved a whole-of-government approach and integrated existing climate-related plans. He concluded by addressing the need for legal obligations on rich countries to provide climate finance and the potential for legal action if these obligations are not met.

Representing the youth constituency, Samuel Okorie, Advisory Board Member, Santiago Network, discussed the role of youth in Africa’s climate action and NDC 3.0 implementation, highlighting their potential to drive investment and innovation. He criticised the marginalisation of youth in decision-making processes and called for their strategic inclusion in policy development and implementation.

“There should be a long-term strategic partnership with youth initiatives, with youth businesses. It is that time we stop being afraid of partnering with youth businesses, but then we start embracing them, and also try to see how their models could fit into the climate action plans of Africa or of various countries,” he stated.

With COP30 on the horizon, there have been growing concerns over the slow pace of submission of NDCs – the Paris-Agreement tool through which countries set national mitigation and adaptation commitments.

These demands come against a worrying backdrop as e UNFCCC’s latest NDC synthesis report shows that, between January 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025 only 64 Parties submitted new or updated NDCs, of which 13 are African countries. This underlines a gap between ambition and readiness to implement.

In July, SPP’s Scoping Paper “On the Road to COP30 and Beyond” echoed this urgency, finding persistent gaps in governance frameworks, whole-of-society approach to NDCs development and implementation, access to finance, etc. The Paper therefore recommended that NDCs be reframed into implementable development plans.

The communiqué concluded with a call for African countries to speak with one voice and build alliances at COP30:

“Stand together with one voice, build alliances, and ensure that negotiations reflect current African priorities. In that vein, the Baku to Belém Roadmap; Article 6 and Carbon Markets; Global Goal on Adaptation; among others, must be priority areas of focus,” it stated.

African countries negotiate at COPs as a coordinated block through the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), combining technical preparation, ministerial coordination and coalition building with other developing country blocks. This unified position creates continent-wide asks on priority areas.

For negotiators and observers, the communiqué offers a concise advisory and negotiating checklist.

The webinar which was attended by several stakeholders from across Africa was hosted by Prof. Chukwumerije Okereke and moderated by Gboyega Olorunfemi, Team Lead, SPP and Nnaemeka Oruh, Senior Policy Analyst, SPP. Other speakers include: Gbemisola Titilope Akosa, Executive Director, Center for 21^st Century Issues, Nigeria; Iskander Erzini Vernoit, Executive Director, IMAL Initiative for Climate and Development, Morrocco; and Samuel Okorie, Advisory Board Member, UNFCCC Santiago Network.

Read the full communique here: https://shorturl.at/VNKtC

By Ugochukwu Uzuegbu, Communication Officer, SPP