Power Shift Africa welcomes UNFCCC move to admit more COP observers from global south

5 September 2024

In his speech today at the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell announced that more observer badges for COP29 would go to organizations from the global south.

In his speech he said: “We’ve also taken steps this year to boost the proportion of observer organizations at COP from the global south, following the guidance from Parties at the June Meetings this year.”

Mohamed Adow, Director of Nairobi-based think tank Power Shift Africa, said: “For too long the COP summits have been largely full of delegates from the global north. It’s an example of how too much power at the climate talks has been by held by people and organisations based in countries that have caused the climate crisis.  Finally, we are getting a fairer distribution of observer badges. It’s only right that people from countries that are most vulnerable to the climate crisis are able to attend the meetings that are supposed to address their needs.”

According to Power Shift Africa’s analysis 50% of the COP28 badges went to participants from the bloc known as Western European and Other States (WEOG), which includes the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, despite those countries only representing12% of the global population.

Adow said: “People in parts of the developing world only contribute a fraction of the emissions causing the climate crisis yet disproportionately suffer its impacts. Yet for too long the vast majority of COP badges have been held by people from a small part of the world but with disproportionately high emissions.  It is only right that this imbalance is now being rectified.”

In his speech, Stiell also said that climate action is the “single greatest economic opportunity of this century” and that “the opportunity is immense. But so too are the costs for African nations of unchecked global heating.” 

Adow said: “It’s encouraging to hear Simon Stiell spelling out the huge opportunities posed by tackling the scourge of climate change, transitioning the world to clean energy and lifting millions of climate vulnerable people out of poverty.”