African leaders urge shift from climate aid to climate investment at Addis Ababa summit

African leaders on Monday called for a rethinking of climate finance at the second Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa, urging a move away from traditional aid models toward large-scale climate investment to fund adaptation and resilience across the continent.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed used the summit's opening ceremony to say it is "time to replace climate aid with climate investment," framing Africa as an investment opportunity rather than a passive victim of climate impacts. The three-day gathering brings together heads of state, business leaders, climate scientists, activists and other stakeholders to try to unlock funding and accelerate Africa-led solutions.

African countries, home to more than one billion people, have experienced repeated droughts, floods and other extreme weather that have pushed millions into vulnerability. Delegates said the adaptation finance gap and mounting debt burdens require new approaches, including private investment, debt relief mechanisms and domestic revenue measures.

Amos Wemanya, a climate action campaigner with Greenpeace Africa, urged taxing polluters and the wealthy to raise resources, saying such measures would make them "pay for the climate plunder they are causing the continent." Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, chairperson of the African Union, proposed a framework of "climate justice" intended to help vulnerable states manage the twin challenges of climate change and rising debt.

Organizers said a summit declaration outlining Africa's priorities and proposed solutions is expected to be finalized during the meeting and then presented at COP30 in November. André Corrêa do Lago, the COP30 president, attended the Africa summit and expressed solidarity with the continent's proposals on financing and adaptation.

The summit revisits promises made at the inaugural event in Kenya in 2023, when leaders set out ambitious plans to expand renewable energy capacity and other climate measures. Delegates and analysts say progress since that summit has been slowed by financing shortfalls, limited private-sector engagement and competing development priorities.

Ethiopia is seeking to showcase its own climate and development initiatives while hosting the summit. Officials said the country plans to inaugurate the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile during the conference week; the hydropower project is expected to add more than 5,000 megawatts of capacity, roughly doubling the country’s current output and providing some electricity for export to neighboring states. In July, the government launched a national campaign to plant 700 million trees in one day as part of a broader plan to plant 50 billion trees by 2026.

Summit participants said they will press for a combination of policies to scale up flows to Africa, including blended finance that leverages public funds to attract private capital, reform of international financial architecture to ease debt burdens linked to climate impacts, and the creation of investment-grade projects that can generate returns while delivering adaptation and resilience. Delegates stressed that measures must be country-led and aligned with development objectives.

The discussions in Addis Ababa come amid mounting scientific warnings about the disproportionate burden of climate change on low-income countries, which contribute a small share of global emissions yet face high exposure to extreme weather. African officials and advocates argue that addressing this disparity requires both additional finance and structural changes to how international climate funding is mobilized and deployed.

The summit runs through the week, with negotiators and leaders expected to work on the declaration before presenting their proposals in the run-up to COP30 in November.