Accra: The African Group of Negotiators (AGN) on climate change has agreed on a workplan to establish a labour liaison mechanism ahead of the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to strengthen workers' protection in Africa's climate agenda. The agreement was reached at a meeting in Accra involving the AGN, trade unions, and civil society organisations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
According to Ghana News Agency, the initiative was developed with the IndustriALL Sub-Saharan Africa regional office, the Sub-Saharan Africa energy network, ITUC-Africa, the Nigeria Labour Congress, and the Ghana Trades Union Congress, among others. This collaboration aims to systematically integrate labour concerns into climate negotiations, providing a platform for open conversations and stakeholder engagement.
The workplan for the Subsidiary Body (SB64) sessions and COP31 includes the establishment of an AGN-Trade Union Just Transition Work Programme liaison group with formal terms of reference. It also provides for the preparation of sector-specific evidence briefs on employment, reskilling, critical minerals, and informal workers, as well as joint pre-sessional briefings and a unified African labour position paper on just transition, border adjustment mechanisms, and equitable value chains. Participants agreed to organise a COP31 side event on African workers and the just transition process.
The meeting raised concerns over climate finance, noting that Sub-Saharan Africa receives less than three per cent of global climate finance annually, largely in the form of loans. Trade unions rejected the use of loans as climate contributions, arguing that this could deepen Africa's debt burden. They also called for reforms in multilateral development banks, citing high interest rates in Africa compared with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
On critical minerals, participants urged African countries to prioritise local processing of lithium, cobalt, and other resources to create jobs and increase value addition rather than exporting raw materials. Trade unions also raised concerns about the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, warning that it could shift the cost of the global energy transition onto African producers and workers. They called for stronger regional value chains under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The meeting also emphasised the need to protect informal workers and ensure gender justice in climate action. Participants called for International Labour Organization standards to be linked to climate finance and for increased support for women and youth in the green economy. Ms Paule-France Ndessomin, Regional Secretary of IndustriALL Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighted that African trade unions view the just energy transition as central to protecting workers and communities.
The meeting was supported by IndustriALL, Danish trade union 3F, and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Senegal, and brought together participants from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.