Latest COPs on Climate Change, Desertification and Biodiversity: Key Outcomes for Africa (2024?2025)
Mo Ibrahim Foundation
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Abstract: This policy-focused digest summarizes the main outcomes of COP29 (UNFCCC), COP16 on Desertification (UNCCD), and COP16 on Biodiversity (CBD) as held between late 2024 and early 2025. It assesses implications for African countries in key areas: adaptation finance, carbon markets, drought response, biodiversity finance, and the role of global negotiations. Highlights include: the establishment of a $300 billion annual global climate finance goal by 2035; finalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund institutional setup; failure to deliver a binding drought response under UNCCD; a $200 billion biodiversity finance target; and disputes over equity, adaptation tracking, and Africa?s vulnerability to trade barriers like the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The report presents Africa?s climate finance gap and maps negotiation power asymmetries through the lens of the African Group of Negotiators.