From ACS2 to COP30: Advancing One Vision, One Voice for Africa’s Energy Transition
The Second African Climate Summit (ACS2) was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 8–10 September 2025 and now serves as a strategic launchpad for the realisation of Africa’s clean energy and climate goals. This trajectory is set to continue through the upcoming Luanda Financing Summit (LFS), scheduled for 28–31 October, and the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), to be held from 10 –21 November in Brazil. Together, these three high-level events present a timely and coordinated opportunity to advance the continent’s sustainable development pathway.
ACS2: Pledging for change
The ACS2 summit culminated with African leaders adopting the Addis Ababa Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action, which positions Africa as the ‘’architect’’ of climate solutions. Over 25,000 participants came together during the summit, from heads of state and government to youth and grassroots leaders, to shape key commitments and innovative solutions.
Notable initiatives launched at the ACS2 included the Africa Climate Innovation Compact (ACIC) and the Africa Climate Facility, both designed to mobilise $50 billion annually to deliver 1,000 African climate solutions by 2030 in areas of energy, agriculture, water, transport, and climate resilience. In parallel, a $100 billion reinforcement of the Africa Green Industrialization Initiative (AGII) was unveiled to drive sustainable transformation across key sectors. Another significant milestone was the official launch of the Africa Just Resilience Framework (JRF), developed to work alongside the Climate Justice Impact Fund for Africa (CJIFA), offering both a strategic framework and dedicated financing for locally led climate action.
The most defining outcome of ACS2 was, however, Africa’s unified and strategic call to the global stage. As Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared in his opening address:
“Africa did not cause this crisis, yet Africa can lead in solving it. We are not here to negotiate our survival; we are here to design the world’s next climate economy. We can be the first region to industrialise without destroying our ecosystems, and as COP30 approaches, Africa must stand not as a bloc of negotiators but as a continent of solutions. We call for real investment, not charity.”
It comes across as an assertive message poised to shape finance negotiations at the upcoming Luanda Finance Summit, as well as global calls for action at the COP30.
The Luanda Financing Summit: from commitments to capital
The upcoming Luanda Financing Summit for Africa’s Infrastructure Development, set for October 2025 in Angola and hosted in collaboration with the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) and the African Union Commission (AUC), presents a pivotal opportunity to build on the momentum generated at ACS2. The summit aims to mobilise capital and fast-track implementation of strategic infrastructure projects that align with Africa’s climate and development goals.
Key priorities on the summit agenda include advancing innovative financing mechanisms to bring electricity access to over 600 million Africans currently without power, primarily by capitalising on initiatives such as the African Single Electricity Market (AfSEM). This simultaneously supports the broader ambition to mobilise $1.3 trillion by 2040 to establish a continent-wide unified electricity market. Additionally, the summit will address persistent funding gaps in the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), a flagship continental initiative focused on delivering transformative, cross-border infrastructure projects.
Road to COP30: Commitments, capital, and strategy for a united Africa
The ACS2 has essentially charted a strong foundation for a unified and strategic African voice on the global climate stage. As the continent looks ahead to COP30, key priorities on the agenda will include raising the ambition of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), scaling up adaptation finance, and increasing investments in renewable energy projects across the Global South. In this light, Africa is uniquely positioned to lead the global clean energy transition, given its vast and largely untapped natural resources. Notably, while the continent possesses 60% of the world’s best solar potential, it currently receives less than 2% of global clean energy investment. COP30, thus, presents a timely opportunity to build on the ACS2 commitments for closing this investment gap, reinforcing Africa’s role as a driver of climate solutions, and pushing for climate finance mechanisms that align with the continent’s development priorities.
