Climate, Environment and Sustainability

Mobilising for Climate Justice: Centering Just Transitions and Resilience in Africa’s Development Futures

This workshop places climate justice and just transitions at the centre of Africa’s climate finance and development agenda. While Africa contributes minimally to global emissions, it bears a disproportionate burden of climate impacts—often intensified by historical injustices and ongoing structural inequalities in global finance and governance systems. The session interrogates how prevailing climate finance mechanisms—dominated by complex technocratic requirements, donor-driven priorities, and inadequate support for grassroots institutions—fail to address the realities of Africa’s most vulnerable communities. It asks: what would a just transition look like in the African context, and how can finance be mobilised in ways that are democratic, equitable, and locally rooted? Participants will explore justice-oriented alternatives, including community-led climate action, gender-responsive finance, and locally determined adaptation pathways. The workshop will also highlight the role of social movements, indigenous knowledge, and intergenerational leadership in shaping inclusive transitions. Through interactive dialogue and grounded case studies, this session invites participants to co-create actionable strategies for transformative and just climate finance—ones that go beyond resilience as ‘bouncing back’, toward reshaping development futures that are regenerative, rights-based, and aligned with the AU Agenda 2063 and broader decolonial climate agendas.