African countries have told the COP31 climate summit in Antalya that the talks must deliver real money, not new promises, with the continent needing between $1.3 trillion and $1.6 trillion by 2030 for climate adaptation and mitigation.

Presenting Africa’s position as the summit opened on Monday, 9 November, the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) said climate finance implementation remains the benchmark of success for COP31, and insisted the funding must come as grants and concessional financing rather than debt-creating loans.

Grants, not loans

The AGN, chaired by Nana Dr Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, wants a dedicated negotiating space for public climate finance under Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, the provision that requires developed countries to provide financial resources to help developing nations. Amoah has said there is currently no agenda item within the UN climate process that provides space to discuss public financing.

African negotiators welcomed the inclusion of item 11(g) on the agenda, covering the work programme on climate finance, after late-night negotiations, and thanked the G77 and China group for backing it. They also called for a formal assessment of the funding levels the Green Climate Fund will need as its third replenishment approaches.

The dispute over the form of finance matters because the goal agreed at COP29 in Baku in 2024 — at least $300 billion a year for developing nations by 2035, inside a broader $1.3 trillion mobilisation target — allows public and private sources and does not guarantee the money will arrive as grants. Amoah has said climate finance is declining at a time when African countries face mounting adaptation costs and competing development pressures.

Adaptation and the just transition

Alongside finance, the African bloc’s priorities include putting the just transition mechanism agreed at COP30 in Belém into practice, and ensuring governments lead the development of indicators to measure progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation. The AGN also raised concerns about unilateral trade-related climate measures, warning that shifting the transition burden onto developing countries threatens African industrialisation.

African negotiators are also pressing for the global energy transition to create economic opportunities on the continent through local processing of critical minerals, technology transfer, renewable energy investment and job creation, rather than leaving African countries dependent on exporting raw materials.

Leaders call for delivery

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell told the opening session that progress was nowhere near fast or fair enough, and said COP31 must focus on removing the barriers that stop countries carrying out existing promises. COP31 President Murat Kurum said delegates should not expect a piece of paper from Antalya that will gather dust on shelves, insisting that financial promises must be realised in everyday life.

The European Union backed the goal of at least tripling adaptation finance by 2035, while the Umbrella Group of countries, represented by the UK, said adaptation finance was not an orphan and that its members remained committed to tripling it.

COP31, hosted by Türkiye with Australia leading the formal negotiations, runs from 9 to 20 November. Africa Day at the summit, with a high-level segment on water, climate resilience and climate finance, is scheduled for 12 November, and the continent will host the next summit, COP32, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2027.