Opinion: Why COP30 must deliver for Africa’s energy and climate goals

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Africa stands at the crossroads of climate ambition and development reality. Joseph Nganga believes that bold pledges mean little without affordable capital, systemic reform, and Africa-led ownership of solutions. With COP30 on the horizon, he calls for radical action to make finance fit Africa’s needs and empower nationally driven transitions.

• Joseph Ng’ang’a was CEO of the inaugural Africa Climate Summit two years ago and is now the Founder and CEO of Africa Climate and Energy Nexus (AfCEN), a platform that helps to connect governments, investors, and entrepreneurs to accelerate climate-positive growth across Africa.

• Nganga argues that the current global financial architecture is "obsolete" and unfit for a warming planet. He believes that climate and energy must be the foundation of development finance, not an afterthought, calling for financial models that democratise capital.

Opinion article

By Joseph Nganga 

We stand at a crossroads where climate ambition clashes with harsh reality. The gap between bold pledges and tangible delivery has never been wider—and nowhere is this more evident than in Africa. Here, climate action isn't a luxury; it's the heartbeat of development, powering homes, farms, and futures. Yet, while global leaders convene in grand halls, African communities grapple with power outages, degraded lands, and a financial system that burdens rather than builds.

This truth echoed through the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville last month. Delegates from every corner of the world declared the current financial architecture obsolete, unfit for a warming planet. Climate and energy can no longer be afterthoughts in development finance—they must be the foundation. But rhetoric alone won't light up villages or restore soils. Africa needs results: affordable capital, shared risks, and partnerships that honour our unyielding determination as a continent of innovators and resilient communities.

Imagine transformative, Africa-led efforts rising from the spirit of the Nairobi Declaration at the 2023 Africa Climate Summit—connecting governments, investors, entrepreneurs, and civil society to drive climate-positive growth. With broad-based ownership by Africans, including our diaspora, these initiatives aggregate insights, mobilise investments, and track progress, ensuring Africa's voice shapes its own green future. They build robust financial mechanisms to shatter funding bottlenecks, turning global commitments into on-the-ground impact.

Energy and Climate: The Non-Negotiable Core of Africa's Rise

In Africa, where nearly 600 million people still live without electricity, energy access is the spark for everything—from educating the next generation to fueling green industries and climate-smart agriculture. Our vast renewables potential could power the world 50 times over, our minerals drive the global energy transition, and our carbon sinks, like the Congo Basin, offer humanity a lifeline. Yet, many African governments spend more on debt servicing than on building resilient systems. This isn't sustainable—it's a crisis demanding bold reform.

As we build toward COP30 in Belém, Brazil, later this year, three imperatives must guide us, with pioneering Africa-led efforts at the forefront to deliver them.

1. Make Finance Fit for Africa's Reality—and Urgent. 

FfD4 called for systemic overhaul, not piecemeal pledges. COP30 must translate this into action: debt-for-climate swaps that free up resources for nationally driven transitions; blended finance that leverages public funds to unlock trillions in private capital; and guarantee pools to de-risk green projects. Innovative models are already proving this works—democratising finance through mechanisms owned broadly by Africans, enabling investments in climate-resilient infrastructure that generate returns for local jobs and adaptation. Imagine: a solar farm in Kenya drawing support from across the continent and beyond, reinvesting in community prosperity while delivering an attractive return for investors. These breakthroughs are building now—essential to Africa's game-changing future.

2. Empower Nationally Led, Regionally Amplified Transitions.  

Africa rejects one-size-fits-all mandates. Our paths to net-zero must reflect diverse realities—flexible timelines, decentralised renewables like mini-grids and off-grid solar, and cross-border ventures in green hydrogen. COP30 should back these with multilateral support. This vision comes alive through South-South collaboration: for instance, echoing the COP30 president's call for a global "mutirão"—a collective effort—Brazil is partnering with African nations on bioenergy and forest conservation projects, sharing expertise in sustainable agriculture to boost resilience across the Global South. Closer to home, partnerships with AUDA-NEPAD and governments in Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar are exploring co-developing a value addition facility in one of the three countries, leveraging economies of scale for a globally competitive and green graphite value chain targeted at Europe, specifically Italy's automotive industry under the Piano Mattei initiative by Prime Minister Meloni. This isn't top-down aid—it's African determination in action, fostering shared prosperity across borders.

3. Weave Climate into Every Thread of Development.

Silos between climate and development must end. Resilient agriculture, urban infrastructure, health, and education are all climate investments. COP30 needs integrated funding and transparent tracking to measure real impact—jobs created, emissions avoided, lives improved. Forward-thinking platforms are doing exactly this: aggregating data into tools that track commitments, spotlighting successes like youth-led adaptation in the Sahel. By making insights accessible, they empower communities, especially women, youth and indigenous people, to lead and hold leaders accountable.

Denmark's EU Presidency: A Pivotal Moment for North-South Solidarity

As Denmark assumes the EU Council presidency this month—July 2025—it inherits not just influence, but responsibility. With its legacy of renewable innovation, Denmark can bridge Europe's ambition with Africa's needs, turning COP30 into a turning point.

Denmark should lead by reinventing EU climate finance: simplifying grants for cross-border energy projects, scaling blended platforms, and integrating digital tools for adaptation. Draw from recent North-South examples—like a June 2025 EU roadshow, led by AfCEN in partnership with AUDA/NEPAD and Children Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) that engaged the European Union and governments of Belgium, Italy, Sweden, and Portugal to commit to de-risking climate-positive development projects in Africa. The outcome of the roadshow was a pipeline of opportunities that AfCEN, AUDA/NEPAD and various development agencies, including Enabel and SIDA, can co–develop with a view to unlocking the European Private sector for Africa’s climate-positive growth. 

Denmark must also champion just transitions: piloting EU-Africa knowledge exchanges on worker reskilling and renewables. And on global reform, push for debt relief tied to climate action, adapting rules so capital flows without punishing rates.

Finally, Denmark's diplomacy should be project-focused—convening EU and African leaders to forge deals, not declarations. Tools like the EU Global Gateway must embed climate resilience, unifying finance, trade, and diplomacy.

A Call to Global Action: Invest in Africa's Vision Now

Africa enters COP30 with unyielding determination and community spirit. Our nations are scaling solar and wind, entrepreneurs are innovating off-grid solutions, and youth are mobilising for green coalitions. What's missing? A financial system that matches our innovation with affordable, scalable capital.

Pioneering initiatives are bridging that gap—creating mechanisms with broad African ownership to support thousands of projects, from smallholder farms to mega-hydro. This is South-South synergy and North-South partnership in motion, connected to FfD4's reforms and COP30's agenda.

Let COP30 be defined by deals sealed and dollars deployed, not speeches forgotten. Europe, under Denmark's lead, can help make it so. Africa is ready—resolute in our demand for equity. The world must rise with us.