Our Top 15 Thought Pieces That Shifted Power in 2025
In 2025, shifting power did not only happen in negotiation rooms or through policy, it also happened in the headlines.
These thought pieces helped to push African perspectives into public discourse and global climate conversations. They challenged dominant narratives, exposed false solutions, and reframed Africa’s role in energy, finance, adaptation, and just transitions.
Here are 15 thought pieces that helped shift power in 2025.
1. “The choices we make about our energy system are going to determine whether we can live within the planetary limits. Two things can happen: we can continue to develop on a business-as-usual path where we don’t address the limited energy access challenge, or we can lead from that energy and become a green leader and help this continent deliver sustainable energy access without joining the league of the big polluters. That will require fair finance, clean technology transfer, and capacity building.’’
– Mohamed Adow, Mongabay
2. ‘‘There is also no need for Africa to shackle itself to the outdated fossil fuel infrastructure of coal when the continent is blessed with a spectacular potential for developing clean renewable energy.’’
– Mohamed Adow, Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/4/7/africa-must-shun-trumps-push-to-resurrect-coal
3. ‘‘Anniversaries do not change the world. Which is why the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) should be remembered as the moment the multilateral climate regime proved it can deliver for everyone.’’
- Mohamed Adow, Nation
4. “Procedural barriers - like denied visas and limited access to badges - can themselves lead to maladaptive outcomes. These barriers usually restrict African diplomatic and civil society representation and therefore their ability to influence COP and multilateral climate agendas meaningfully,”
– Amy Giliam Thorp, Pulse
https://www.pulse.co.ke/story/cop30-opens-under-a-cloud-of-logistical-chaos-2025112008554183793
5. ‘‘Adaptation gaps and needs are not abstract figures. They are questions of justice – the difference between dignity and despair, between communities that can withstand droughts and floods with dignity and those left to suffer loss, displacement, and hunger.’’
– Amy G Thorp, The Standard
6. “Courts have emerged as a crucial avenue for seeking climate and environmental justice. Through legal cases, communities can challenge environmental violations and demand accountability. If successful, courts may impose fines against offenders, mandate reparations, and even issue injunctions to halt harmful activities.’’
– Karabo Mokgonyana, African Arguments
7. ‘‘USAID’s withdrawal presents an opportunity and a chance for Africa to take charge of its development trajectory, free from external dictates and dependencies. It’s a turning point that could usher in a new era of self-reliance, innovation, regional cooperation, and economic sovereignty.’’
– Karabo Mogonyana, Mail & Guardian
https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/2025-03-31-usaid-withdrawal-a-blessing-in-disguise-for-africa/
8. ‘‘The demand for steel is expected to increase by a third over the next 30 years. This is largely due to growth in Asia and Africa. This makes it more imperative that the industry moves from brown to green steel production.’’
– Kudakwashe Manjonjo, LSE (blog)
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2025/06/09/greening-chinas-brown-steel-investments-in-zimbabwe/
9. ‘‘South Africa’s G20 presidency has committed to championing critical minerals as an engine for inclusive growth and sustainable development across the continent. To make this ambition a reality, South Africa must lead a shift in the global conversation, one that repositions critical minerals not simply as inputs for clean energy technologies, but as catalysts for industrialisation, environmental justice and fairer terms of trade for resource-rich countries.’’
– Kudakwashe Manjonjo & Karabo Mokgonyana, Mail & Guardian
10. ‘‘For years, Africa and other developing nations have insisted that climate funds will flow where they are needed the most only if Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement is made operational. This year is expected to provide the way forward.’’
– Saada Mohamed, The Star
11. ‘‘The African Development Fund (ADF) remains a key vehicle for expanding concessional and innovative financing mechanisms to drive impactful climate-resilient investments in Africa’s poorest countries. The new leadership of the African Development Bank (AfDB) under President Sidi Tah must be agile and urgently address structural challenges to enhance its operational and lending capacity over the next decade.’’
– Saada Mohamed, Capital News
12. ‘‘Africa’s food systems suffer from a colonial legacy that prioritises cash crops for export over food crops for local consumption. Underinvestment in food production and storage infrastructure has left the continent with fragmented supply chains and inefficiencies that persist to date.’’
– Juma Ignatius, Nation
https://nation.africa/kenya/health/how-africa-can-tackle-its-severe-food-loss-crisis-4976980
13. ‘‘Carbon markets should move beyond commodified, technocratic solutions and adopt rights-based standards with enforceable grievance mechanisms. Land rights must be central to climate finance frameworks and monitoring protocols.’’
– Juma Ignatius, Nation
14. ‘‘For a continent that’s most affected but least responsible for climate change, asking for recognition of its special needs and circumstances and support to pursue sustainable development and resilience on fair terms isn’t too much to ask.’’
– Fredrick Otieno, The Cable
https://www.thecable.ng/why-africa-wants-cop30-to-recognise-its-special-needs-and-circumstances/
15. ‘‘If 2025 is to be a turning point for Africa’s clean energy ambition, a different path must be chosen. MDBs must stop financing fossil fuels and abandon debt-heavy models. Wealthy countries must honor their climate debt and commit to real transfers of finance, technology, and capacity. African governments must ensure that Mission 300 and other compacts are not driven by creditors, but by citizens’ needs.’’
– Karabo Mokgonyana, The Star
