The African Leaders Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action

The Nairobi Declaration asserts that Africa is disproportionately affected by climate change despite minimal historical responsibility. It calls for the global community to honor the $100 billion annual climate finance promise, operationalize the Loss & Damage fund, and reform the multilateral financial system to reduce the 'great financial divide' in borrowing costs. The declaration commits Africa to green industrialization, increasing renewable energy capacity to 300 GW by 2030, and valuing its natural capital. It specifically requests the re-channeling of $100 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to Africa and the reduction of corporate tax losses from profit shifting.

• Africa faces severe climate vulnerabilities and energy poverty, with 600 million people lacking electricity and 970 million lacking access to clean cooking. The continent is warming faster than the rest of the world, leading to humanitarian crises caused by droughts, floods, and wildfires.
• Despite possessing 40% of global renewable energy resources, Africa has received only $60 billion (2%) of the $3 trillion in renewable energy investments made over the last decade. The declaration sets a target to increase Africa's renewable generation capacity from 56 GW in 2022 to at least 300 GW by 2030.
• The document identifies a 'great financial divide' where borrowing costs for developing countries are typically 5 to 8 times higher than for wealthy countries, which impedes climate investment and causes recurring debt crises.
• African leaders call for urgent reforms to the multilateral financial system, including the re-channeling of at least $100 billion of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to Africa and the proposal of a new SDR issue for climate crisis response of at least $650 billion.
• The declaration advocates for a new financing architecture and global tax cooperation to reduce Africa's annual corporate tax revenue loss of $27 billion due to profit shifting by 50% by 2030 and 75% by 2050.
• Africa commits to green industrialization and the protection of its natural capital, specifically the Congo Basin rainforest, and calls for the revaluation of its GDP to account for ecosystem services and carbon sequestration.
• The declaration demands that the global community honor the $100 billion annual climate finance commitment made in 2009 and operationalize the Loss & Damage fund agreed upon at COP27.

APA

TIMOTHYRADIER (2023). The African Leaders Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action. FSD Africa. https://fsdafrica.org/the-african-leaders-nairobi-declaration-on-climate-change-and-call-to-action/

Chicago

TIMOTHYRADIER. The African Leaders Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action. FSD Africa, 2023. https://fsdafrica.org/the-african-leaders-nairobi-declaration-on-climate-change-and-call-to-action/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=TIMOTHYRADIER |title=The African Leaders Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action |publisher=FSD Africa |date=8 September 2023 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/the-african-leaders-nairobi-declaration-on-climate-change-and-call-to-action/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{timothyradier2023african, author = {TIMOTHYRADIER}, title = {{The African Leaders Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action}}, publisher = {FSD Africa}, year = {2023}, month = sep, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/the-african-leaders-nairobi-declaration-on-climate-change-and-call-to-action/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }