**The burning issue of climate justice for African countries: A case for a paradigm shift**
For decades, African countries have been bearing the brunt of the consequences of climate change, a phenomenon they have only marginally contributed to causing. Today, at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, Fadhel Kaboub, senior advisor at the think tank Power Shift Africa, is making a strong case for a radically different approach to climate finance and development, highlighting the need for grants and debt cancellation for African countries.
The reality is clear: the countries of the Global North have significantly exceeded their carbon budgets, accumulating a significant climate debt to African nations. This debt translates into significant damage caused by carbon dioxide emissions, with no compensation in sight.
Kaboub vehemently denounces the current climate finance model, which imposes agreements and loans on African countries with conditions that are often considered unfair. The concept of climate debt is deeply unfair: African countries are forced to pay for the consequences of a phenomenon that they did not cause.
To address this glaring injustice, Kaboub advocates a transfer of vital technologies to strengthen resilience to climate change. He stresses the importance of promoting renewable energy, clean cooking methods and green transport infrastructure to build solid foundations for resistance to the harmful effects of climate change.
While the COP29 negotiations seem to be stalling, with a focus on carbon market mechanisms, Kaboub warns against the perverse effects of these systems. Using the forests of Kenya as an example, he denounces the resulting phenomenon of “green colonialism”, where local populations are expelled from their ancestral lands to satisfy the needs of the most polluting countries.
For the current climate negotiations to result in significant progress for Africa, Kaboub stresses the importance of a united and resolute African voice. He calls on the countries of the continent to stand in solidarity with other blocs and firmly defend their rights, recalling that climate finance is not charity but an imperative of justice.
In conclusion, Fadhel Kaboub’s plea resonates as a vibrant call for a paradigm shift in the field of climate finance. Africa, which has long borne the burden of the consequences of climate change without being responsible for it, deserves a fair and equitable response from the international community. It is high time to move from a logic of debt to a logic of solidarity, placing climate justice for all at the heart of the debates.