African leaders seek united front

NAIROBI, Kenya— Landmark African climate talks are set to wrap up Wednesday with leaders seeking a united voice to highlight the continent’s green growth potential provided the world steps up help for funding and debt.

Africa is acutely vulnerable to the growing impacts of climate change, yet Kenyan President William Ruto has fought for a narrative shift at the conference, focusing on accelerating the region’s clean energy transition.

A final declaration from the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi is expected to call on the international community to help achieve that goal by easing the continent’s crushing debt burden and reforming the global financial system to unblock investment.

Leaders will also demand that rich carbon polluters honour long-standing climate pledges for poorer nations.

Analysts say unity could generate momentum for a series of key gatherings leading to a crunch UN climate summit starting in November, including the G20 meeting this weekend.

But consensus is challenging across the diverse continent of 1.4 billion people, where some governments are championing a renewable-powered future while others defend their reserves of fossil fuels.

Competing visions of the world’s energy future are likely to play out at the COP28 talks in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, where the world will take stock of the as-yet-inadequate efforts to slash planet-heating emissions.

Speaking to his counterparts on Tuesday at the Nairobi talks, Ruto said African leaders were envisioning a “future where Africa finally steps into the stage as an economic and industrial power, an effective and positive actor on a global arena.”

Ruto says Africa is well placed to take advantage of the need to move away from carbon-spewing fossil fuels, boasting a young population, vast renewable potential and natural resources.