United for green future

China and Africa should further deepen exchanges and cooperation on climate change under the framework of South-South cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative

Addressing climate change is an important issue that all countries are facing together. China and Africa have comprehensively promoted coordination and cooperation under the South-South cooperation mechanism, and established a strategic cooperative partnership to address it, which has effectively improved the resilience and capacity of African countries to deal with climate change and provided a model for building a community with a shared future.

For a long time, African countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt have actively participated in global climate change governance. At the same time, the African Union has taken a series of effective measures to address climate change. One is to improve its own abilities. The African Risk Capacity, a specialized agency of the African Union, works closely with governments of various countries to raise their ability to proactively respond to natural disasters. The second is to deploy policies. In the field of energy transformation, the AU and nearly 50 African states have set clear goals. In the field of security, the AU's Peace and Security Council is promoting the construction of a continental early warning system covering climate change issues. In the field of socioeconomic development, it seeks to achieve climate-friendly growth. The third is to increase investment. The African Development Bank will raise $25 billion by 2025 to boost the Africa's climate response.

China has always attached great importance to Africa's important role and reasonable demands in addressing climate change. Under the South-South cooperation mechanism, China has continued its effort in top-level design and has released the 2022 Global Youth Initiative to Address Climate Change, the Declaration on China-Africa Cooperation on Combating Climate Change, the Dakar Declaration of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and the China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035 with African nations.

A strategic partnership has been established between China and Africa to address climate change in the new era. Meanwhile, China has signed agreements with multiple African countries such as the Seychelles, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zambia on climate change cooperation. In addition, China has been actively contributing in global climate governance as a participant, promoting South-South cooperation in the field of climate change by imparting experience, providing technological support and facilitating the transfer of technological intellectual property rights.

China and Africa should further deepen exchanges and cooperation on climate change under the framework of South-South cooperation and the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative to tackle the issues above.

First, the two sides should continuously strengthen cooperation in bilateral and multilateral fields. From the international perspective, China and Africa are actively implementing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and other conventions and should call on developed countries to shoulder their due responsibilities. As for China and Africa, both sides should continuously improve the cooperation mechanism, establish a high-level dialogue on climate change, and enrich the connotation of the China-Africa green partnership.

Second, the two sides should focus on long-term development and strengthen Africa's capabilities. Capability building to adapt and respond to climate change is key to addressing the challenges. They should establish an exchange platform for climate governance, expand the exchange channels between Chinese and African scholars and scientists, and regularly organize technical and academic exchanges on climate change, disasters, vulnerability and more. The construction of disaster prevention and reduction systems should be intensified and the African countries' abilities to respond to meteorological disasters should be enhanced through cooperation in the field of aerospace, making good use of meteorological satellites and other resources. They should beef up the construction of low-carbon clean energy projects, focus on developing Africa's rich renewable energy resources such as wind, solar and tidal power energy, as well as accelerate the transformation and upgrading of its energy structure. China and Africa should further develop a food security system and help the latter grow a climate-intelligent agriculture.

Third, strengthen climate change cooperation in multiple fields such as capital, technology, and talent. They should adhere to the path of green development, implement green environmental protection and climate change response projects, support the construction of the "Great Green Wall of Africa", continue to implement plans such as the China-Africa Green Envoys Program and an innovation program to boost the two sides' partnership on green technologies, and assist African countries in accelerating their green and low-carbon transformation.

It's necessary to promote green finance cooperation between the two sides, expand China's investment in green infrastructure projects in Africa, and innovate their measures to address the financing difficulties in addressing climate change.

Efforts should be made to strengthen cooperation in green industries, cultivate emerging industry development bases through technical training and exchange platforms, and transfer China's green and low-carbon technologies to Africa in a market-oriented manner. To strengthen scientific and technological innovation, China and Africa should join hands to develop and research new materials and technologies, help African countries further explore eco-investment and green industrial technology development, and extend strong sci-tech support for high-quality and sustainable growth.

The author is chair of the Institute Affairs Committee and vice-president of the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.