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By Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani - CEO, EnergyInc Advisors (www.EnergyIncAdvisors.com) /Global Energy Finance and Strategy Leader 

With COP30 underway in Belém, Brazil, the global community is once again confronted with the urgency of climate action. For Africa however, the conversation must begin with a more fundamental question: how do we power the continent so that climate ambition does not outpace development reality?

While advanced economies frame climate progress around how quickly they can retire fossil fuels, Africa's challenge is more foundational. Millions still lack reliable electricity. Without power, factories cannot operate, digital economies cannot thrive, and essential services - from hospitals to schools - remain constrained. Energy access is not merely a development aspiration. It is the bedrock upon which climate adaptation, resilience, and long-term economic transformation rest.

A transition that must be sequenced, not rushed

Africa's clean energy potential is undeniable; abundant solar irradiation, strong wind corridors, hydro resources and world-class geothermal prospects. But potential alone will not close the energy gap. Grid constraints, weak storage systems, and limited industrial-scale capacity mean the transition must be phased and sequenced.

Renewables cannot shoulder the entire burden today. Managed, time-bound use of transitional fuels, including natural gas, remains essential to stabilising grids, supporting industry, and powering cities. This is not a call for indefinite fossil fuel dependence, but for a pragmatic pathway that allows Africa to scale clean energy without undermining growth.

Africa's priorities at COP30: clarity and ambition

Africa produces less than 4 percent of global emissions but absorbs a disproportionate share of the climate fallout, droughts, floods, food insecurity, and displaced communities. Yet climate finance flows to the continent remain slow, fragmented, and heavily skewed toward mitigation rather than the adaptation Africa urgently needs.

At COP30, Africa's message is focused and uncompromising (https://apo-opa.co/4psssKd):

• A new global climate finance target: no less than $1.3 trillion annually by 2030, with a significantly higher share allocated to adaptation, resilience and concessional finance.
• A fully operationalised Loss and Damage Fund, designed to deliver predictable, timely support without adding to Africa's debt burdens.
• A just and inclusive energy transition, one that recognises Africa's right to industrialise, create jobs and expand access while lowering emissions in a responsible and realistic way.
• Recognition of Africa's natural ecosystems -  forests, mangroves, peatlands - as global public goods, deserving of sustained financing and market mechanisms that reward their stewardship.

Universal energy access must be the anchor of Africa's climate roadmap

African governments and their partners must weave energy access into the heart of climate policy. This means scaling renewable energy investments, strengthening grids, reforming utilities, and designing transition pathways that reflect Africa's demographics, industrial goals, and financing constraints.

Transitional fuels will continue to play a bridging role, but with transparent timelines and a clear strategy for shifting to cleaner sources as infrastructure matures. What Africa needs is not a binary choice between fossil and renewable, but a plan that delivers power where it is needed most, reliably, affordably, and sustainably.

Because as the world races toward net zero, the continent cannot remain energy-poor. A climate strategy that does not lift African households, clinics and schools out of energy poverty is neither just nor durable.

At COP30, the message must be unmistakable, it is that Africa's development cannot be deferred, and energy access is central to that vision. A fair global climate future begins with a lit Africa, one where power enables productivity, resilience, and opportunity for all.

Driving Africa's energy future through homegrown solutions

Africa's transition will not be unlocked by ambition alone; it will be unlocked by sequencing and by capital. The continent cannot afford a transition model that demands synchronisation with wealthier economies while our grids remain weak and our capital systems under leveraged. With over $900 billion in pension, insurance, and sovereign assets, Africa holds significant pools of domestic capital that remain largely absent from energy infrastructure. The real opportunity now is to finance Africa's transition with Africa's money, in the right order: strengthen grids, scale renewables, and phase out transitional fuels as capacity deepens.

A transition that is both sequenced and self-financed is not only more realistic; it is the most sustainable path to universal energy access and long-term climate resilience.

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1. Introduction: Why the Church's Voice Matters

As the AU–EU Summit convenes in Luanda, the Catholic Church in Africa, represented by the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) (https://SECAM.org/), reaches out to all people of goodwill with a message of concern, truth, and hope. We speak as a Church deeply embedded in the daily lives of the African people, sharing in their joys and hopes, as well as their griefs and anxieties, particularly for the poor and afflicted (cf. Gaudium et Spes, n. 1). Our moral responsibility is informed by lived experiences throughout the continent, through our schools, universities, clinics, parishes, and communities.

2. The Significance of the Year 2025

The year 2025 holds particular significance, as the African Union has declared it the Year of “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations” and will launch the Decade of Reparations (2026-2036). The Catholic Church's Jubilee Year calls for truth, renewal, and reparatory justice. Following COP30 in Belém, where voices from Churches in the Global South underscored the urgent need for ecological justice, climate finance, and respect for Indigenous and local communities, the AU–EU Summit must not only negotiate but also listen, remember, and address longstanding injustices.

3. Concerns Over Restricted Civil Society Participation

SECAM is compelled to highlight the restrictions imposed on civil society organizations in the official Summit process. Numerous African civil society organizations, including those willing to self-finance their participation, have been excluded. This includes faith-based organizations with a long-standing presence on the ground, humanitarian and justice networks linked to the Church, women's and youth associations, farmer and Indigenous organizations, local development movements, and peacebuilding and reconciliation bodies. This exclusion raises a critical moral question: How can a summit focused on Africa's future exclude those who support African communities daily?

4. The Parallel Peoples' Summit in Luanda

In response to the official Summit's inability to accommodate African civil society, a Parallel Peoples' Summit has been organized at the Catholic University of Angola in Luanda on 19–20 November. This is not an act of rebellion; it is a necessary response to insufficient participatory channels, a lack of transparency, technocratic top-down processes, and an imbalance of power between institutions and communities.

5. Historical Responsibility and the Call for Reparatory Justice

The Church in Africa expects the AU–EU Summit to demonstrate honesty about history and a genuine commitment to reparations, acknowledging the ongoing impact of the Transatlantic slave trade, slavery, colonialism, neocolonialism, economic domination, and resource extraction as matters of historical fact and moral responsibility. We are deeply concerned that the European Union has not fully committed to reparatory justice for Africans and people of African descent, despite the fact that key members benefited from the Transatlantic slave trade and colonization. The legacy of this exploitation persists today in an unfair trade system and the transgenerational trauma suffered by Africans and people of African descent.

6. People-Centered Development

Guided by the Church's social teaching principle of the primacy of the human person over systems, SECAM advocates for a people-centered development model. The joint SECAM–COMECE–Caritas–CIDSE statement warns that many AU–EU initiatives risk perpetuating extractive patterns; development must serve communities, not geopolitical interests. Reparatory justice is essential, encompassing both structural fairness and restorative healing.

7. Economic, Debt, and Ecological Justice

Economic and debt justice are crucial, as Africa's debt burden—rooted in historical injustice—requires serious reform as a matter of justice, not pity. Following COP30 in Belém, ecological responsibility must be upheld, recognizing that ecological justice cannot be separated from social justice. Africa's forests, water sources, mineral resources, biodiversity hotspots, and vulnerable communities must never again be sacrificed for profit, geopolitics, or external interests. Respect for African sovereignty and the sovereignty of its people is vital; African sovereignty belongs not only to governments but also to its citizens.

8. Conclusion: Toward a Strengthened AU–EU Partnership

The Church in Africa hopes for a renewed and strengthened AU–EU partnership. However, this requires inclusion rather than exclusion and transparency rather than opacity. A partnership that listens to the people will endure; a truly inclusive summit will foster trust, and a dialogue rooted in justice will have the power to heal historical wounds. The Church in Africa stands ready to accompany Africa and Europe toward a future of justice, peace, and human dignity.

Contact:
Rev. Fr. Uchechukwu Obodoechina
Director of SECAM - Justice, Peace and Development Commission
secamjpdcdirector@gmail.com
‪Tel: +233 55 733 7871

Rev. Fr. Louison Emerick Bissila Mbila, C.S.Sp.
SECAM Liaison Officer at the African Union
secamauliaisonoffice@gmail.com
Tel: +251 900 485 018