Key Points

• Climate finance remains the dominant constraint on mitigation and adaptation delivery across Africa and the Global South.
• COP30 and G20 messaging reaffirmed Paris Agreement goals, but current emphasis is on implementation rather than new ambition.
• Debt burdens and limited concessional finance are repeatedly cited as major barriers to scaling national climate plans.
• Adaptation is framed as urgent and underfunded, with recurring references to resilience, early warning systems, and loss-and-damage support.
• Africa is also being positioned in competing ways: as a recipient of justice-based finance, and as a supplier of renewables, forests, and critical minerals.
• The debate increasingly links climate policy to governance questions around fairness, differentiated responsibility, and who captures value from transition investments.