Main civil society networks working on climate change in Europe and Africa have urged the leaders of the two continents to use the upcoming high-profile EU-Africa summit taking place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on 29-30 November as an opportunity to strengthen their cooperation on tackling climate change.
This year’s EU-Africa summit will pay particular attention to issues related to youth, as well as peace and security, governance, investment, trade, jobs and migration. Climate change poses massive and unbalanced risks towards advancing those areas of cooperation and achieving safer, more resilient and sustainable economies in Africa. However, it is conspicuously absent from the list of priorities identified for the summit.
In an unprecedented joint statement, an broad alliance of African and European climate NGOs urges EU and African leaders to put climate at the forefront of the summit’s agenda and boost their partnership to address climate change. In particular, the groups emphasise the need for increased financial support to adapt to the impacts of climate change and improved access to clean energy solutions, particularly in vulnerable countries.
Maeve McLynn, Finance and Subsidies Policy Coordinator at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe said: “The EU-Africa summit is an ideal moment for the two continents to push forward the implementation of the Paris Agreement and accelerate the clean energy transition. The EU and Africa need to forge a closer alliance that will empower the world’s most vulnerable to cope with the impacts of climate change, improve their access to clean energy and make sustainable development a reality for millions of people in Africa and Europe. It is a precondition for keeping temperature rise to safe levels and a survival question for many African communities.”
The EU-Africa summit falls between the UN Climate Summit COP23 in Bonn, Germany and the One Planet Summit in Paris, France, both strongly featuring the issue of scaling up financial support for climate action in the developing countries.
The European Parliament will host a wide range of high-level speakers from Europe and Africa to discuss the upcoming summit today.
ENDS
Contact:
Ania Drazkiewicz, CAN Europe Communications Coordinator, ania@caneurope.org, +32 494 525 738
Notes:
Joint Statement can be found here:
Direct link to english pdf: https://caneurope.org/docman/climate-finance-development/3252-joint-ngo-recommendations-on-climate-change-towards-eu-africa-summit/file
Direct link to french pdf: https://caneurope.org/docman/climate-finance-development/3251-recommendations-des-ong-europe-ennes-et-africaines-pour-un-sommet-ue-afrique/file
Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe is Europe’s largest coalition working on climate and energy issues. With over 140 member organisations in more than 30 European countries – representing over 44 million citizens – CAN Europe works to prevent dangerous climate change and promote sustainable climate and energy policy in Europe.
