Africa Can’t Wait: Faith Leaders Demand Climate Action, Grants for Africa

Story By Maurice Momanyi

Faith leaders and climate justice advocates have called on developed countries to honour their climate finance commitments and provide grants rather than loans to African nations as the three-day Africa Can’t Wait interfaith conference on just climate action concluded at Pride Inn Azure Hotel in Westlands, Nairobi.
The conference brought together representatives of diverse religious traditions, faith-based organisations, civil society, women, youth and grassroots networks to push for urgent implementation of climate commitments ahead of the upcoming United Nations climate negotiations.
The gathering, held under the Africa Can’t Wait: Interfaith Voices for Just Climate Action campaign, underscored the need to move beyond pledges to practical interventions that protect vulnerable communities from the worsening effects of climate change.
Participants called for increased funding for climate adaptation, support for communities experiencing climate-related losses and damage, and equitable access to resources needed to strengthen resilience across the continent.
They argued that Africa continues to bear a disproportionate burden of the climate crisis despite contributing relatively little to global greenhouse gas emissions.
At a closing media conference, the faith leaders and common-interest players maintained that climate finance should not deepen the debt burden of African countries already grappling with economic pressures. Instead, they urged wealthy nations to provide accessible, predictable and grant-based funding to support adaptation, resilience and locally led climate solutions.
The conference also highlighted the importance of holding governments and climate finance institutions accountable for ensuring that resources reach communities most affected by droughts, floods, food insecurity, displacement and loss of livelihoods.
Beyond demanding accountability from international partners, participants emphasised the need for African governments to ensure transparency and fairness in the allocation and use of climate funds.
They called for inclusive decision-making processes that recognise the contributions and needs of women, young people, Indigenous communities, persons with disabilities and other groups often marginalised in climate policy discussions.
Faith communities urged to take leading role
The conference reaffirmed the role of religious institutions as important partners in advancing climate justice, mobilising communities and promoting practical environmental interventions.
Through their extensive grassroots networks, faith communities can help advance locally led adaptation, renewable energy, clean cooking, ecosystem restoration and nature-based solutions while amplifying the voices of communities whose livelihoods are threatened by climate change.
The campaign seeks to strengthen collaboration among religious institutions, governments, civil society organisations and development partners to ensure that climate policies translate into measurable improvements in people’s lives.
Participants also stressed that the transition to low-carbon development must be fair, protect community rights and create opportunities for African countries rather than deepen existing inequalities.
The Nairobi meeting comes as African countries prepare to press for stronger climate action and more equitable financing at the forthcoming United Nations climate negotiations, COP31, and in the longer-term preparations towards COP32.
The Africa Can’t Wait campaign, launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in September 2026, seeks to mobilise faith communities and other stakeholders around four priority areas: climate finance; adaptation, resilience and loss and damage; renewable energy and clean cooking; and ecosystem restoration and nature-based solutions.
It is also seeking to mobilise one million signatures in support of fair, inclusive and rights-centred climate action ahead of COP32.
As the Nairobi conference closed, its central message remained that African communities cannot continue waiting for climate commitments to translate into meaningful support on the ground.
The campaign is urging governments, international institutions and other stakeholders to ensure that climate action is adequately financed, locally driven and responsive to the needs of the people most affected by the crisis.