As COP30 convenes in Belém, Brazil, African youth rise in solidarity from Sub-Saharan Africa to the Amazon, carrying a shared vision for justice, ambition, and implementation. Despite contributing less than 4% of global emissions, Africa faces the sharpest edge of the climate crisis, floods, droughts, displacement, and deepening inequality. From this lived reality, YHA champions a transformative agenda that centers people, rights, and resilience.
Rooted in six continental dialogues, our position unites the voices of young Africans who refuse to be observers in their own future. We call for a Global Just Transition to 100% renewable energy, an ambitious New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on finance, and full operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund. COP30 must become the Implementation COP, where words evolve into measurable, just outcomes.
Our youth vision aligns with the COP30 Action Agenda and Africa’s development aspirations through six interlinked pillars:
- Just Energy Transition—Phasing out fossil fuels while investing in youth-led renewable energy solutions and equitable access to green jobs.
- Natural Resource Stewardship—Protecting Africa’s biodiversity and ensuring community-led conservation of forests, oceans, and ecosystems like the Congo Basin.
- Agricultural Transformation—Promoting agroecology, food sovereignty, and the empowerment of young farmers, especially women, to lead a sustainable food revolution.
- Urban Resilience—Advancing adaptation finance for cities, infrastructure, and water systems that protect communities from floods and heatwaves.
- Social Development—Embedding climate justice in health, education, and gender equality for inclusive resilience.
- Enabling Innovation—Elevating African ideas and youth entrepreneurship in climate solutions, adaptation, and technology.
Our Call to Leaders:
COP30 must deliver climate justice through action—not promises.
We urge global leaders to:
- Adopt a clear timeline for fossil fuel phase-out consistent with 1.5°C.
- Establish an International Mechanism for Just Transition (IMJT) under the UNFCCC.
- Ensure African processing of natural resources and fair global trade in finished products.
- Invest in youth capacity, innovation, and leadership for a green industrial revolution.
- Strengthen biodiversity, the blue economy, and adaptation measures guided by justice and inclusivity.
- Pay for Loss and Damage and guarantee that no community is left behind in the transition.
From the Sahel to the Amazon, African youth stand with a united message of solidarity:
“Protecting Africa is protecting the planet.”
COP30 must honour this truth, justice through implementation, ambition through accountability, and resilience through unity.
📥 Download the Full YHA COP20 Position Paper below