Africa arrived at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, with a short and pointed message. Addressing delegates on October 8, the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), which speaks for all 54 African states in United Nations climate talks, said the summit's main job must be converting existing pledges into practical results rather than producing another round of promises.
"Antalya must be about delivery, not another cycle of promises," the group's chair said, according to a statement carried by the Ghana News Agency and reported by The Fourth Plate.
Grants, not more debt
The AGN's first priority is the type of money on offer. The chair called for predictable, grant-based adaptation finance to take precedence over loan-heavy instruments that pile additional debt onto already stretched national budgets. That position reflects a long-running frustration. Much of the climate finance counted toward international targets reaches African countries as loans, sometimes on near-commercial terms, which means vulnerable nations end up paying interest to cope with a crisis they did little to cause.
Africa contributes only a small fraction of historic global greenhouse gas emissions, yet faces some of the most severe consequences, from floods and drought to tropical cyclones.
Debt is a pressing issue across the continent. Several countries spend more servicing external loans than on health or education combined. Adding climate-related borrowing on top makes it even harder to invest in schools, clinics and infrastructure, which are themselves essential to building resilience.
Funding the Loss and Damage Fund properly
The second priority is the Loss and Damage Fund, agreed at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in 2022 and hailed at the time as a historic breakthrough. African negotiators want it resourced at a scale that matches the damage their countries are already experiencing. So far, pledges have been modest compared with independent estimates of the losses caused by climate disasters in developing nations, which run into hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
The timing of the Antalya talks makes the point sharper. A very strong El Niño is under way, with forecasters warning of drought in the Sahel and Southern Africa and floods in the Horn. Communities hit by those events need help rebuilding homes, replacing lost livestock and restoring farmland, which is precisely the type of support the fund was designed to provide.
African science, African positions
In a less publicised but significant point, the AGN called for stronger links between African research institutions and its own negotiating teams. The group argued that technical data on climate impacts produced within Africa has been under-used in shaping the continent's positions, with gaps often filled by modelling carried out elsewhere.
That matters for credibility and accuracy. Climate models built in Europe or North America may not capture local rainfall patterns, soil types or farming practices in sufficient detail. African meteorological services, universities and regional centres such as those behind the continental climate outlook forums generate valuable data. Feeding it directly into negotiations would strengthen Africa's case for specific forms of support, such as early warning systems or drought-resistant agriculture programmes.
Antalya as a stepping stone to Addis Ababa
The AGN described COP31 not as an endpoint but as a step toward COP32, scheduled to be hosted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, next year. African negotiators clearly see the summit on home soil as the venue where firmer commitments should be locked in. Hosting a COP gives a country and a region considerable agenda-setting power, from choosing thematic days to shaping the draft texts that negotiators work from.
That framing reflects frustration voiced at successive conferences since Glasgow in 2021, where developed nations promised to double adaptation finance. Progress toward that goal has been uneven, and African delegates have repeatedly pointed out that adaptation receives far less money than emissions reduction, even though it is the more urgent need for most of the continent.
What success in Antalya would look like
Observers will judge the outcome on several concrete measures. Firm, time-bound commitments on adaptation finance with a clear share delivered as grants would be a significant win. New contributions to the Loss and Damage Fund, along with simplified access procedures so that money reaches affected communities quickly, would be another. Progress on the global goal on adaptation, including indicators that measure real-world resilience, would round out a solid package.
The bigger picture for the continent
Africa holds a strong hand in climate diplomacy despite its limited historic emissions. The continent possesses vast solar and wind potential, critical minerals essential for batteries and electric vehicles, and forests, such as those in the Congo Basin, that store enormous amounts of carbon. Negotiators increasingly link these assets to demands for fair finance, arguing that the world's energy transition depends on African resources and should therefore share benefits with African people.
Whether Antalya delivers or disappoints, the road to Addis Ababa is now set. Africa has made its expectations public, and it will host the world next year to hold everyone to them.