International: Africa
Gabon to sell €275m worth of carbon credits before COP27
5 Jul 2022
For Gabon, forests are rich in with economic opportunity. The country plans to create 187 million carbon credits and sell half of them on the offset market.
Climate change threatens coffee growers in Tanzania
4 Jul 2022
Coffee-growing farmers in Tanzania’s northern Kilimanjaro region are bearing the brunt of climate change, which is affecting their incomes and livelihoods.
Indigenous Ogiek win ‘landmark’ reparations ruling from African Court
28 Jun 2022
The Republic of Kenya must pay the Indigenous Ogiek people reparations for decades of illegal evictions from their ancestral land in the Mau Forest.
Commonwealth adopts historic accord to combat climate change through land use
27 Jun 2022
Commonwealth leaders last week adopted the “Living Lands Charter”, which commits all member countries to safeguarding global land resources while taking coordinated action on climate change, biodiversity loss and sustainable land management.
Can Africa grow without fossil fuels
7 Jun 2022
As the developed world demands emissions cuts, the continent’s leaders are asking whether it is possible to industrialize on green energy alone.
Climate change puts agrivoltaic projects in Northern Africa in the spotlight
31 May 2022
As food and energy security emerge as top priorities in several regions, an innovative use of existing technologies might help serve both: Agrivoltaic projects allow energy production and agricultural activity on the same land, potentially increasing farming productivity.
In Tanzania, carbon offsets preserve forests and a way of life
26 May 2022
Carbon offsets have been criticised for failing to provide carbon savings and ignoring the needs of local communities. But in Tanzania, hunter-gatherer tribes are earning a good return for their carbon credits and protecting their forests from poachers and encroaching agriculture.
Failure to save the Congo Basin forest ‘would mean world loses climate fight’
24 May 2022
Failing to conserve the carbon-rich forests of the Congo Basin would mean the world loses the fight against climate change, officials in Gabon have warned.
Growing African mangrove forests aim to combat climate woes
9 May 2022
In a bid to protect coastal communities from climate change and encourage investment, African nations are increasingly turning to mangrove restoration projects, with Mozambique becoming the latest addition to the growing list of countries with large scale mangrove initiatives.
DR Congo approves auction of oil blocks in one of the world’s largest carbon sinks
5 May 2022
Cabinet ministers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have approved the auction of 16 oil blocks, including in one of the world’s largest carbon sinks and most environmentally sensitive areas.
West African countries pledge $294 billion to fight climate change
4 May 2022
The leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional, political and economic union of west African countries, recently agreed to spend $294 billion over the next 10 years to fight against climate change.
African economies risk suffocation by 'shock' carbon tax
22 Apr 2022
The climate is surely one area where the European Union and African Union should be in step with one another. Curbing global warming and agreeing how to produce clean power would help keep more of the world habitable and prosperous.
Climate justice coalition files criminal complaint against South Africa
19 Apr 2022
A group of climate change organisations have filed criminal complaints against the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and a number of prominent cabinet ministers, accusing the government officials of “unlawful negligence” by failing to take “practical action to address the climate crisis.”
Climate change intensified deadly storms in Africa in early 2022
12 Apr 2022
Climate change amped up the rains that pounded southeastern Africa and killed hundreds of people during two powerful storms in early 2022.
Nestlé looks to dairy supply chain to achieve net-zero
4 Apr 2022
Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, is supporting farmers in its supply chain to farm more sustainably and help reduce the carbon footprint of the value-added products that it produces.
Ukraine war accelerates climate emergencies in Horn of Africa
29 Mar 2022
In some parts of the region, famine is now not just a threat, it is waiting, says UNICEF's regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa Mohamed Fall.
Climate smart’ policies could increase southern Africa’s crops by up to 500%
25 Mar 2022
The climate crisis is threatening food stocks in sub-Saharan Africa, but a comprehensive approach to food, farming and resources could increase crop production by more than 500% in some countries in the region, according to new research by more than 200 experts.
African experts call for climate-proofing farming systems to overcome hunger
7 Mar 2022
The eradication of hunger and malnutrition in Africa will only be realized once governments leverage nature-based interventions to strengthen the resilience of farming systems in the face of climatic stresses, experts said on Friday.
Timber giant quietly converts Congo logging sites to carbon schemes
4 Mar 2022
A major European logging firm may have illegally converted more than a dozen of its timber concessions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo into so-called conservation concessions, a new investigation can reveal.
Kenyan farmers test insurance to ward off climate-driven hunger
1 Mar 2022
When drought ravaged her sorghum and bean crops five years ago, Kenyan farmer Ngina Kyalo did not need to stand in line for food handouts, as in previous years when the rains failed.
African nations forced to spend on climate adaptation
28 Feb 2022
African countries are having to spend up to five percent of their annual economic output to shield themselves against the impacts of climate change, even though they emit the least greenhouse gases in the world, a report released Saturday said.
'A journey with no end': Angola's climate refugees
25 Feb 2022
SOUTHWEST ANGOLA has been experiencing its worst drought for the past 40 years. It has forced thousands of people to flock to neighbouring Namibia after failed harvests and rising food prices worsened food shortages across the region.
‘2.4C is a death sentence’: Vanessa Nakate’s fight for the forgotten countries of the climate crisis
14 Dec 2021
She started a youth strike in Uganda – then just kept going. She discusses climate justice, reparations, imperialism and why the global north must take responsibility
Climate threats are multiplying in the Horn of Africa
10 Dec 2021
Jutting out from the second-largest continent, the Horn of Africa is one of the world’s regions most vulnerable to climate change. The four countries on the peninsula—Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia—are warming more quickly than the global average, with dangerous implications for unrest and conflict within and across their borders.
African Union urged to bring political clout to Egypt climate talks
9 Dec 2021
Africa has been trying for years to get its special needs and circumstances officially recognised in UN climate talks, without success. The bloc left Glasgow last month disenchanted once again.
The ‘idea’: Uncovering the peatlands of the Congo Basin
9 Dec 2021
The notion seemed straightforward: A massive swamp in the Congo Basin relatively unknown to most of the world, apart from a few human communities and a bewildering array of wildlife, could be the ideal spot for a carbon-rich soil known as peat.
Nigeria commits to annual carbon budgets to reach net zero under climate law
23 Nov 2021
Nigeria has become the first major developing country to commit to set annual carbon budgets to plot its path to cutting emissions to net zero.
What role can nuclear energy play in Africa’s climate transition?
22 Nov 2021
African states should not be denied the opportunity to use nuclear energy, but it should be a solution of last resort, argues arms control expert Olamide Samuel.
Mozambique first country to receive World Bank forestry emission reducation payment
18 Oct 2021
Mozambique has become the first country to receive payments from a World Bank trust fund for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation—commonly known as REDD+.
Is a ‘climate action famine’ inevitable after Cop26?
8 Oct 2021
At-risk African countries must put pressure on those with the most resources to tackle the climate crisis – and they must do it now, argues Hannah Ryder the CEO of Development Reimagined.
Voices from global south muted by climate science
7 Oct 2021
Climate change academics from some of the regions worst hit by warming are struggling to be published, according to a new analysis.
Zimbabwe and South Africa pledge big cuts to emissions
28 Sep 2021
South Africa and Zimbabwe have both announced ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions in the lead-up to COP-26.
Opinion: The West owes Africa $100bn (at least) for climate recovery
27 Sep 2021
This week, as about 100 world leaders gather to attend the 76th session of the UN general assembly, a call for rich countries to urgently scale up assistance to help Africa address the twin challenges of climate catastrophe and the effects of Covid-19 pandemic is required.
Zimbabwe opens new coal mines
31 Aug 2021
Zimbabwe's government says more coal mining will create jobs and give the country's power supply a much-needed boost, but critics warn the environmental cost is too high.
Africa's mountain forests store more carbon than previously thought
27 Aug 2021
Tropical forests may be local to the tropics, yet they all have global benefits. In addition to serving as refuges of the planet’s stunning, if shrinking, biodiversity, these forests store large amounts of carbon, which helps offset our emissions and mitigate climate change.
Kenyan health experts say climate change fuelling disease burden
20 Aug 2021
Kenya is witnessing a spike in both infectious and non-communicable diseases as the climate crisis escalates in the country, experts said at a virtual forum in Nairobi.
Madagascar famine solely due to climate change
22 Jul 2021
Madagascar's famine is the first in modern history to be solely caused by global warming, according to Time Magazine.
Climate action must take into account women’s right to land
25 Jun 2021
Climate action plans have to include measures to redress women disproportionately affected by deforestation and plantation expansion, argues Human Rights researcher Juliana Nnoko-Mewanu.
Uganda's charcoal boom threat to health
18 Jun 2021
Growing demand for charcoal for cooking in Uganda is causing large scale environmental degradation and threatening public health and the environment.
Earliest known war driven by climate change
28 May 2021
A new study suggests the earliest known evidence of organised warfare - the 13,000 years old remains of a massacre in Jebel Sahaba, Egypt - was the result of climate change.
Kenya to set up an ETS
13 May 2021
Kenya aims to set up an emissions trading system that will allow companies and other bodies to buy emissions allowances, the finance minister said on Tuesday, as the country strives to limit the release of greenhouse gases.
Great Green Wall promises better lives to African farmers
7 May 2021
Africa’s Great Green Wall, a climate crisis initiative that offers hope for some of the continent’s most beleaguered farmers, is back on a steady trajectory after securing $14 billion in new funding for the next decade
Blanket bans on fossil-fuel will entrench poverty
23 Apr 2021
Africa needs reliable energy infrastructure, not rich-world hypocrisy, argues Vijaya Ramachandran in Nature.
Shell offsets emissions with efficient stoves in Africa
19 Apr 2021
Sustainable energy services provider C-Quest Capital has signed a deal with Shell Eastern Trading to fund the generation of more than 60 million carbon credits using clean cookstoves in Africa.
Is 'frugal innovation' Africa's ticket to green development?
16 Apr 2021
Cash-short Africa will need "frugal innovation" based on simple, local solutions to deal with serious and growing problems, from climate change to a surging youth population and a lack of jobs, African entrepreneurs and officials say.
Zimbabwean teen leads fight for climate
7 Apr 2021
Zimbabwean teenager Nkosilathi Nyathi has introduced solar power to his school and his now campaigning globally to fight climate change.
Oil pipeline tests the climate commitment of international banks
24 Mar 2021
Plans by Total to exploit and export Ugandan oil through a 1443 kilometre pipeline traversing east Africa to the Tanzanian coast are hanging in the balance as investors are under growing pressure to move away from fossil fuels.
Changing rainfall could mean more locusts
18 Nov 2020
Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and South Sudan are trying to contain the worst locust invasion in more than 70 years.
KENYA CALL: My land is now owned by lions
29 Jun 2020
PARSOLOI KUPAI'S home, situated on the edge of Ol Kinyei conservancy near the Maasai Mara game reserve, is no different from any other Maasai homestead – oval-shaped huts with an almost flat roof and walls plastered with a mixture of water, mud and cow dung.
Congo drilling could release vast amount of CO2
2 Mar 2020
Drilling in one of the greatest carbon sinks on the planet could release greenhouse gases equivalent to Japan’s annual emissions.
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.
