International: Africa
‘Crippling’ drought in Zambia threatens hunger for millions, says minister
11 Jun 2024
Collins Nzovu says country’s plight is foretaste of disasters that will increasingly afflict region as climate breakdown takes hold.
West African nations call for firms to be able to offset carbon
10 Jun 2024
A group of 10 West African countries has weighed into a debate over whether companies around the world should be allowed to use carbon offsets to cut emissions.
What a new global pledge means for climate, nature and gender goals
20 May 2024
World leaders gathered in Paris this week to pledge to make 2024 the “pivotal year” for improving access to clean cooking.
Kenya’s devastating floods expose decades of bad land management
6 May 2024
Floods in Kenya killed at least 169 people between March and April 2024, a result of decades of poor urban planning.
Southern Africa drought flags dilemma for loss and damage fund
2 May 2024
Scientists blame the current drought on El Niño – which could exclude those affected from receiving aid for climate-change damage.
Fifty killed in Kenya floods
1 May 2024
About 50 people have died in Kenya in a deluge following heavy rains and flooding, a Red Cross official has said.
World Bank advises South Africa on climate insurance, contingency fund options
30 Apr 2024
The World Bank is advising South Africa’s National Treasury on a climate risk strategy after floods in recent years caused billions of dollars of damage.
Deadly African heatwave 'impossible' without warming
19 Apr 2024
A deadly heatwave in West Africa and the Sahel was "impossible" without human-induced climate change, scientists say.
Africa's carbon sink capacity is shrinking
8 Apr 2024
The population of Africa, the second-largest continent in the world, currently sits at about 1.4 billion, but is set to exceed 2 billion by 2040.
Meet the Nigerian women spearheading solar projects
5 Apr 2024
The African country has the lowest access to electricity in the world. Women and girls are bearing the brunt of energy poverty.
How the the African Forest Restoration Initiative threatens savannas and grasslands
3 Apr 2024
A recent paper published in Science warns that “Across Africa, vast areas of nonforest are threatened by inappropriate restoration in the form of tree planting.”
"The water is eating the island"
26 Mar 2024
Villagers hang onto the last patch of Sierra Leone’s Nyangai Island, knowing that their home may soon disappear.
Back-to-back climate disasters leave millions of Malawians in deepening need
21 Mar 2024
Millions of Malawians are struggling with the impacts of back-to-back climate disasters that have deepened the poverty of subsistence farmers and undermined the ability of the cash-strapped government to help.
‘We don’t need air con’: how Burkina Faso builds schools that stay cool in 40C heat
5 Mar 2024
Architects use local materials and merge traditional techniques with modern technology to make schools and orphanages cool, welcoming places.
Alarming Africa-wide report predicts 30% drop in crop revenue, 50 million without water
1 Mar 2024
African countries will suffer significant economic loss after 2050 if global warming is not limited to below 2°C, a new study by the Center for Global Development has found.
Real solutions to climate change in Africa are about people, not profit
1 Mar 2024
The continent’s leaders should resist quick fixes and deadly traps offered by the market and bring the people at the centre of the climate action.
Africa's ice is disappearing: Tropical ice fields demonstrate speed of climate change
22 Feb 2024
The ice on the high summits of the continent is rapidly disappearing, and Africa may lose its white peaks by the middle of our century.
Italy’s energy deal faces backlash in Africa
8 Feb 2024
Critics charge that a plan that aims to curb migration will derail the continent’s climate change agenda.
Climate change behind Africa cholera surge, top health officials say
2 Feb 2024
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the continent’s chief health advisory body, has tied the worst outbreak of cholera in three years to climate change.
Climate change worsens human trafficking of the poor in Sierra Leone
31 Jan 2024
Sierra Leone’s poorest communities have long been prey to human traffickers. Climate change is making things worse.
East Africa's new love affair with geothermal energy
30 Jan 2024
There has been little interest in geothermal power in East Africa but Kenya's trailblazing energy transformation policy is now inspiring others.
Climate change is the biggest human health risk, says Africa's disease boss
30 Nov 2023
Climate change is the biggest threat to human health in Africa and the rest of the world, the head of the continent's public health agency said.
Leaks reveal how McKinsey drives African climate agenda
29 Nov 2023
Whistleblowers raise alarm over American consultancy’s growing influence in pushing carbon markets and developing energy transition plans.
Devastating flooding in East Africa
27 Nov 2023
Heavy rainfall led to extensive flooding in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya in October and November.
Neighbourhoods submerged following flash floods in the Horn of Africa
20 Nov 2023
More than 100 people, including 16 children, have died and over 700,000 been forced out of their homes in the Horn of Africa due to flash flooding.
Leaders convene to protect tropical forests
31 Oct 2023
Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, had the privilege of hosting the summit of the three major tropical forest basins on the planet.
Africa’s first carbon-removal plant stokes questions about responsible climate solutions
10 Oct 2023
A joint venture between Swiss and Kenya-based companies has been billed as a springboard for creating a new, green economy in Africa.
Environmental groups sue energy company over 'devastating' East Africa oil pipeline
9 Oct 2023
Four environmental groups have filed a law suit against the French group TotalEnergies and its EACOP oil project in Tanzania and Uganda.
Ivory Coast deforestation rate rises as EU green imports law looms
5 Oct 2023
Deforestation in top cocoa producer Ivory Coast increased last year after declining for several years, a major report has found, raising questions about how the country will comply with a new EU law preventing commodity imports linked to forest loss.
“Why do they punish us?” Uganda charcoal ban ignites transition debate
5 Oct 2023
While welcomed in principle, the abrupt charcoal ban has left both traders and buyers unsure of where to turn.
At least 11 people die in South Africa floods
2 Oct 2023
At least 11 people have been killed after heavy rain and winds hit South Africa's Western Cape province, including Cape Town, over the weekend leaving a trail of destruction.
Africa’s first verifiable carbon market launches in Kenya
25 Sep 2023
CYNK launches as the first Africa-based, end-to-end platform for the measurement, verification and sale carbon credits, with forward trade of more than two million carbon futures credits.
Digital technology helps farmers affected by climate change
19 Sep 2023
A Nigerian professor is advocating for the use of digital technology to help the nation’s struggling farmers cope with global warming.
5000 presumed dead in Libya floods
13 Sep 2023
More than 5000 people are presumed dead and 10,000 missing after heavy rains in northeastern Libya caused two dams to collapse, surging more water into already inundated areas.
EU commission chief asks G20 to join global carbon pricing
11 Sep 2023
The European Commission president asked G20 leaders on Saturday to join a proposal to set up global carbon pricing.
Africa climate summit ends with call to reform global financing
7 Sep 2023
The Africa Climate Summit has ended with leaders calling on the global community to act urgently to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fulfill its obligations and keep financial promises to fight climate change.
African leaders at odds over climate plans as crucial Nairobi summit opens
6 Sep 2023
Oil-producing African nations argue they should be able to use fossil fuel resources for economic growth.
As Africa opens a climate summit, poor weather forecasting keeps the continent underprepared
5 Sep 2023
Much of the world takes daily weather forecasts for granted. But most of Africa’s 1.3 billion people live with little advance knowledge of what’s to come.
Africa’s vast underground water resources are under pressure from climate change
4 Sep 2023
All countries have a variety of water resources – some are on the surface, like rivers, and some are beneath the ground.
Kenya’s ‘green growth’ pitch for Africa Climate Summit sparks justice concerns
25 Aug 2023
Outcry over a fossil fuel consultancy taking a lead role, and unease over the Kenyan president’s focus on finance, raises questions as to whether the summit will truly be “by Africans for Africans”.
Climate change is happening – Africa must adapt to it to survive
23 Aug 2023
Leaders must rally behind a common priority: adaptation to safeguard food systems that feed more than a billion people on the continent.
How to reduce Africa’s undue exposure to climate risks
18 Aug 2023
Africa is disproportionately exposed to catastrophic climate, hydrological and meteorological risks. Well-funded weather monitoring, nowcasting and early-warning systems must become a priority.
Massive carbon offset deal with Dubai-based firm draws fire in Liberia
7 Aug 2023
Liberia may sign away the rights to nearly 10% of its total land mass to a United Arab Emirates-based firm for carbon offset development.
As climate change leads to more and wetter storms, cholera cases rise
2 Aug 2023
In early 2022, nearly 200,000 Malawians were displaced after two tropical storms struck the southeastern part of Africa barely a month apart. Fifty-three people died.
How can Africa get a fair price for its carbon credits?
19 Jul 2023
The world market for carbon credits is growing rapidly – the year 2021 alone saw a 50% increase in real demand, with the value of the voluntary market estimated at anywhere between $40-$100bn by 2030.
Threat of EU carbon tax prompts dubious “green aluminium” claims in Mozambique
5 Jul 2023
Mozambique’s biggest industry claims its aluminium is green, which would help it avoid European taxes – but those claims have been questioned.
Kenya: President Ruto lifts logging ban
4 Jul 2023
Despites concerns from environmental organisations, Kenyan president William Ruto announced he will lift a logging ban which has been in place since 2018.
Africa is uniquely vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
27 Jun 2023
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, tens of millions of Africans are already feeling the negative health impacts of climate change in the form of heat stress, extreme weather and increased transmission of infectious disease.
920 million people face conflict over the world’s rivers by 2050
26 Jun 2023
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project on the Nile River started operating in February 2022. It reinforced tensions between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.
Climate change-induced diseases, stillbirths hurting Africa
21 Jun 2023
Heat exposure, one of the impacts of climate change, has been found to affect health both directly and indirectly.
Rising seas will threaten 1.5 million Australians by 2050 – report
Tue 16 Sep 2025
One and a half million Australians living in coastal areas are at risk from rising sea levels by 2050, a landmark climate report has warned.
US Securities and Exchange Commission chief threatens ban on European accounting rules
Tue 16 Sep 2025
Paul Atkins questions whether overseas companies should be barred from using International Financial Reporting Standards.
China aims to nearly double battery storage by 2027 in $35 billion plan
Tue 16 Sep 2025
China is looking to almost double its so-called new energy storage capacity to 180 gigawatts (GW) by 2027, according to an industry plan announced by authorities on Friday.
EU considers faster Russian oil and gas exit after US pressure
Mon 15 Sep 2025
The European Union is considering a faster phase-out of Russian fossil fuels as part of new sanctions.
UK foreign aid for nature hits £800m record due to cash for carbon credits
Tue 16 Sep 2025
The UK’s climate-aid spending on “nature protection and restoration” reached record levels of nearly £800m last year, according to government figures obtained by Carbon Brief.
Carney government noncommittal about Canada meeting 2030 climate goals
9 Sep 2025
Prime Minister Mark Carney would not say Monday whether Canada will meet its climate goals under the Paris agreement by 2030, as his government faces criticism over his emission-reduction plans.
Tax rebalancing in Indian energy sector: Renewables cheaper, coal costlier
Fri 12 Sep 2025
Industry experts and developers have hail GST cuts on clean energy equipment, saying it will be a major enabler for India’s ambitious climate goals.
China, climate crisis and COP31: Five takeaways from the Pacific Islands Forum
Tue 16 Sep 2025
A key climate crisis funding treaty struck as Pacific leaders backed Australia’s bid for Cop31 despite some criticism of its environmental credentials.
Iconic Antarctic species at risk amid 'regime shift', with 'rapid and self-perpetuating changes'
22 Aug 2025
Scientists say there is emerging evidence of abrupt and potentially unstoppable changes in the Antarctic environment.
Brazil implores businesses to attend COP30 climate summit, despite 'second thoughts' amid Trump backlash
5 Sep 2025
November's COP30 summit comes at a precarious time for climate action, as companies back away from environmental initiatives, and attacks on green energy by President Trump.
UN pushes countries for new climate targets this month
9 Sep 2025
The United Nations urged countries on Wednesday to set more ambitious climate plans during this month, seeking to pressure major economies including the EU and China ahead of this year's U.N. climate summit.
