Zimbabwe has positioned the Manhize steel plant as the anchor of a new integrated industrial era—one designed to slash the country’s US$1.9 billion steel import bill, deepen value addition, and pull downstream industries into a regional manufacturing hub.

Last week, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen trumpeted a new wave of commitments by the bloc for the Scaling Up Renewables in Africa campaign, a push that aims to finally unlock the clean energy revolution Africa has been waiting for.

As the Belem climate talks take shape, a striking tension is emerging. On one hand, the Presidency is loudly promoting “Sustainable Agriculture and Resilient Food Systems” as a key agenda, and for us this is a logical and much-needed focus, given the climate burden borne by vulnerable regions. On the other hand, a draft plan leaked ahead of the summit reveals that COP30 is likely to push for a dramatic scale-up of biofuels and other “sustainable fuels”, aligning with paragraph 28’s iteration on fossil fuels from COP28 in Dubai.

At COP30 in Belém, Brazil, adaptation is finally centrestage. This conference marks a political crossroads for climate-vulnerable nations, especially across Africa. Two milestones are on the line: the finalisation of indicators to track progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), and the long-overdue delivery of the Glasgow commitment to double adaptation finance by 2025. For the Global South, this is a survival mechanism, a kind of Southern Cross guiding those most exposed to climate shocks toward a more resilient future. But it’s also a test of whether the global community truly intends to make adaptation a shared responsibility, not just a polite conversation topic for diplomats 

In this explainer, we explore what the Baku to Belém Roadmap to US$1.3 trillion is, its role in mobilising resources for climate action in developing countries, and the perspectives of Africa’s civil society.

When you open the Paris Agreement and read Article 9.1, you’ll find a seemingly simple sentence with monumental implications. It reads: “Developed country Parties shall provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties with respect to both mitigation and adaptation in continuation of their existing obligations under the Convention.” But don’t let its brevity fool you. That “shall provide” is the foundation of the global climate finance architecture. For Africa and the developing world, Article 9.1 is a lynchpin of fairness, feasibility and trust in climate action.

For Africa, the political symbolism of recognition would be significant. It would signal that the international community understands that climate justice cannot be achieved through generic frameworks alone and reaffirm that the climate regime is not blind to the particularities of geography, history, and structural inequality. And, most importantly, it would show that multilateralism can still deliver fairness in an increasingly fragmented global order 

The 2025 edition of the annual Adaptation Gap Report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was launched yesterday, highlighting, once again, the growing disparity between adaptation needs and the finance required to mount robust resilience against climate change in the world. ‘‘The world is gearing up for climate resilience — without the money to get there,’’ warns the report, poignantly titled ‘‘Running on Empty’’.  In this blog, we analyse some of the key findings and recommendations of the report. 

With just days to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, the summit’s Action Agenda has been referenced multiple times in different conversations. The African Group of Negotiators (AGN) has been advised to engage with this action agenda ‘‘constructively but firmly’’.  In this blog, we explain what the Action Agenda is and why it’s important in global climate action. 

As the world sprints toward COP30 in Belém, Brazil, one unlikely front has emerged in the race against climate change, and that is sport. It’s where flooded football pitches, melting ski slopes, and parched running tracks tell a story no scoreboard can capture. And it’s where the new global campaign, Adapt2Win, is rallying athletes to use their star power to push for serious action on climate adaptation. 

Brazil’s 8th COP30 welcome letter should be received with both hope and caution. 

Yes, it signals ambition. Yes, it speaks of unity and urgency. But from where we stand, in communities losing homes to floods, farmers battling unpredictable rains, and countries drowning in debt while paying for a crisis they didn’t create, warm words are not enough. 

The Global South, especially Africa, has heard visionary speeches before. What we need now is clarity on who will act, who will pay, and who will finally take responsibility. 

When the deadline for submitting Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) lapsed last month, more than 100 countries had yet to update their commitments. The UN had extended the deadline to September after 90 percent of the world's nations failed to meet the initial target of February. Seven of these countries, and a regional bloc, are industrial powerhouses with carbon-intensive economies and significant diplomatic sway globally. So, where do they rank in the global emissions output? In this list of shame, we will highlight the main drivers of their emissions, the composition of their electricity mix, and the last time they updated their NDCs. 

One person dies every minute in the world due to heatwave-related health complications. Yes, one life snuffed out per minute.  

This means that, by the end of 2025, more than 500,000 lives will have been lost to heat exposure alone. When you factor in fatalities from other climate disasters, the number runs into millions.   

The final whistle: Adapt2Win, by leading social impact agency WRTHY, is a bet on both narrative and the political muscle of cultural influence. It recognises that climate politics is not decided solely in negotiation halls, but also in living rooms, stadiums and on social feeds. By assembling a global team of athletes, the campaign redefines adaptation as a bold and achievable strategy, rather than a debatable choice. 

If the United Nations were a human born in 1945, it would have grown up in a world of war, pandemics, refugee crises, hunger, technological miracles, and a planet on the brink. This piece traces that imagined life story — one filled with survival, breakthrough, heartbreak, and hope — to question whether the global future the UN was created to protect is still within reach.

For over a decade, the people of Lamu have stood firm against a proposed 1,050 MW coal power plant backed by Amu Power Company Ltd. The plant was to be constructed on Manda Bay in Lamu, within the rich, biodiverse ecosystem of the Lamu Archipelago

When it comes to the food security situation in the world, there’s no shortage of numbers. To the average African, however, many of these numbers are just that: cold, lifeless, abstract statistics. Mind-numbing and confusing. 

This World Food Day, we attempt to make sense of some of the numbers that feature in food security conversations and how these determine your dinner plate, and whether you can afford the dinner.  

For too long, adaptation has been the proverbial neglected stepchild of international climate negotiations. The world’s attention and money have mostly gone towards mitigation, which in this case means cutting emissions, building renewables, and, in some instances, setting carbon prices; while adaptation, which deals with surviving and thriving in the face of climate impacts already unfolding, has been left behind.

Funding for fossil fuel projects globally decreased by 78 percent in 2024, according to a report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).  

Countries slashed public financing for oil and gas projects by between $11 and $16 billion. 

While this injects some thrust into the fossil fuel phaseout journey, renewable energy investments aren’t spiking – at least not fast enough. Only a fifth of the money recovered from fossil investments is finding its way into renewables. 

Power Shift Africa has been a strong and vocal critic of carbon markets in Africa as they, like the fossil fuel industry, serve the interests of polluters and not communities. Evidence against these controversial projects is mounting.