Africa Climate Summit 2025: Addis Ababa faces pressure to deliver on Nairobi Declaration pledges
As leaders gear up for the second Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa this September, the gap between bold rhetoric and real delivery remains glaring.
The road from Nairobi to Addis Ababa on climate action is lined with pledges but riddled with potholes of inaction.
The 2022 Nairobi Declaration on climate finance, once celebrated as Africa’s unified voice, has seen little follow-through.
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As leaders gear up for the second Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa this September, the gap between bold rhetoric and real delivery remains glaring.
A briefing by the International Climate Politics Hub (ICPH) notes that "progress in implementing the Nairobi Declaration has been slow, with few concrete mechanisms to track accountability."
Financing remains a stumbling block, with Africa receiving less than 12 per cent of its annual climate finance needs.
Carbon markets, promoted as a flagship solution in Nairobi, are still underdeveloped and plagued by governance concerns.
Addis will therefore inherit an unfinished agenda. Organisers present it as a chance to "build on but also correct the shortcomings of Nairobi," especially by embedding climate commitments in binding continental frameworks rather than aspirational communiqués.
The ICPH is blunt: "The transition from declarations to deliverables is the only metric by which Addis will be judged."
Leaders are expected to set measurable targets on adaptation finance, regional carbon credit standards, and establish a monitoring mechanism for global pledges.
But political realities may intervene. National interests, donor dependency, and fiscal distress risk reducing Addis to yet another summit of lofty promises. The ICPH cautions that "without concrete accountability mechanisms, Africa risks repeating the cycle of high-level rhetoric with little local impact."
For now, the Addis summit is both a test and an opportunity. It could reaffirm Africa’s climate voice with enforceable commitments—or end up as just another declaration gathering dust alongside Nairobi’s.
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