ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The Africa Climate Summit next week is an unmissable opportunity to send a clear global message, according to a powerful joint statement issued today, Thursday, September 4, 2025, by UN Climate Change and the Government of Ethiopia: “Africa is ready to supercharge climate action, but COP30 must ensure Africa is fully enabled to do so.”
The joint statement – issued at Climate Week in Addis Ababa – comes as nations around the world prepare for the crucial COP30 global climate conference in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025.
The statement – from Dr. Fitsum Assefa, Ethiopia’s Minister of Planning and Development, and Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary – sets the stage for the Africa Climate Summit starting this coming Monday, September 8, 2025, in Addis Ababa.
“This Climate Week has shown that no continent holds greater potential than Africa for climate actions that transform lives and economies for the better. With the world’s youngest population, vast natural resources, unparalleled renewable energy potential, and extraordinary diversity and human ingenuity, Africa is a colossal coiled spring of climate action possibility,” said the statement.
The statement further reads:
“This Climate Week has shown that African innovators are putting forward pioneering solutions to boost climate resilience and cut planet-heating emissions. However, it has also highlighted again that only a fraction of this potential has yet been realised. Global decarbonisation is charging ahead, with clean energy investments hitting $2 trillion last year alone, driving economic growth and millions of new jobs, but only a fraction of that investment is flowing to African nations.”
Why COP30 should benefit Africa and other developing nations
The two leaders pointed to recent United Nations climate COPs delivering concrete global outcomes that should materially benefit Africa and other developing nations.
“But to realise these benefits, COP30 must take the next concrete steps forward: with ambitious outcomes which convert agreements into results on the ground, and scalable solutions which drive a new era of implementation… Because when all nations are empowered to take bold climate actions, this strengthens the entire global economy and lifts all the world’s 8 billion people,” the statement concludes.
During Climate Week, Ethiopia also announced its bid to host the COP32 UN Climate Conference in 2027.
“We have the capacity, the facilities, the location, the connectivity to host the much-anticipated climate summit,” Ethiopian President Taye Atske-Selassie said.
What was the significance of Climate Week held in Ethiopia
The joint statement and announcement of Ethiopia’s bid for COP32 capped a highly productive Climate Week attended by delegates from 119 countries, and hundreds of representatives from NGOs, investors and other international organisations.
During Climate Week, in focused workshops and “implementation labs”, over 40 initiatives driving implementation were featured, so they can be replicated in other markets and scaled up. Noura Hamladji, UN Climate Change Deputy Executive Secretary, said:
“Climate Week has been about connecting the international climate process to people’s daily lives. We’ve worked together here in Addis to help translate pledges into actions. From community mini-grids to recycling innovations in Kibera, Kenya, to green bonds in Morocco and digital platforms tracking ambition across the continent: we’ve heard from innovators of climate action that is profitable, scalable, and irreversible.”
The Climate Week also advanced work on key issues being negotiated at COP30 in Brazil, across issues including climate adaptation, finance pathways, and a just transition.
How Ethiopia has stamped its authority on the African continent
Negotiators also participated in a solutions-focused workshop, as part of Climate Week’s new approach this year, aiming to bring the intergovernmental process and real-economy implementation closer together. By clustering mandated meetings in the COP process together, Climate Week also delivered cost savings and efficiencies.
Hamladji thanked the Government of Ethiopia for its leadership in hosting Climate Week:
“Ethiopia has long stood as a symbol of African independence, a founding member of the United Nations, and today the diplomatic capital of Africa — home to the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa”.
“This is a country whose influence in regional diplomacy, security, and sustainable development, together with its innovative and dynamic society, made it an ideal setting for the week’s vital work”.
Why Ethiopia’s city, Addis Ababa, is the hub of the Global South
Dr Fitsum Assefa, Ethiopian Minister of Planning and Development, said:
“By gathering here for Climate Week, a global platform for Parties and non-Party stakeholders, we reaffirm Addis Ababa’s role as a hub of the Global South, a place where ideas are exchanged, partnerships forged, and practical solutions launched. This Climate Week is not just an event. It is a bridge between negotiation and implementation. It is where ambition meets action, where commitments are translated into real solutions that reach communities, restore ecosystems, and advance sustainable development.”
Mukhtar Babayev, President of COP29 in Azerbaijan, said:
“Each region has its own challenges and solutions. This high-level ministerial event, convened by the COP29 Presidency within the Climate Week in Africa, will serve as an important space for in-depth engagement on Africa’s core challenges, with a focus on potential solutions through maximising the opportunities for effective actions.”
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