Addis ababa: Nana Dr Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, Chairman of the Africa Group of Climate Negotiators (AGN), has called for urgent strategic alignment between Africa's climate diplomacy, energy security, and industrialisation agenda, warning that failure to do so could deepen the continent's economic dependency.
According to Ghana News Agency, Dr Amoah emphasized that global climate diplomacy has evolved significantly beyond emissions targets and long-term ambitions to include aspects of geopolitics, energy security, industrial competition, critical minerals, and finance. He highlighted that these global shifts are reshaping Africa's development options faster than the continent's institutions are adapting.
Speaking at a high-level dialogue convened by the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) during the 39th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly in Addis Ababa, Dr Amoah noted that African negotiators are being compelled to make deeper commitments under more stringent conditions. He expressed concern over the uncertain and uneven political and financial support available for such commitments.
Dr Amoah observed that decisions made outside the UNFCCC framework-in areas like trade, industrial policy, and finance-are increasingly influencing what is feasible within climate negotiations. He cautioned that the continent risks accepting climate outcomes that may appear progressive on paper but could ultimately prove restrictive in practice.
He urged the integration of energy sovereignty, industrial policy, and access to finance at the core of Africa's climate strategy, advocating for stronger coordination among African institutions to address fragmentation between mandates and implementation.
Mr Louis Cheick Sissoko, Presiding Officer of the AU Economic, Social and Cultural Council, echoed the call for strategic coherence, warning that fragmented policymaking weakens Africa's negotiating power on the global stage. He emphasized the need for Africa to transition from being merely a supplier of raw materials to becoming a strategic architect of its development path.
Mr Sissoko identified three significant tensions facing the continent: balancing energy access with decarbonisation; ensuring local value addition rather than continued raw material export; and pursuing climate ambition within a shrinking fiscal space. He stressed that the global energy transition must not replicate patterns of green extractivism and emphasized that Africa's critical minerals should support local processing, industrial upgrading, and the creation of decent jobs.
He underscored the importance of debt sustainability and equitable access to climate finance as central to Africa's strategic autonomy, linking the discussion to the aspirations of Agenda 2063.
(Courtesy: African Group of Negotiators Experts Support)