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African countries shouldn’t have to borrow money to fix climate damage they never caused – economist
As COP29 approaches, African nations urgently seek increased public finance for climate adaptation. The reliance on loans exacerbates their debt, impeding progress. Systemic biases and bureaucratic barriers hinder access to essential climate funding, demanding coordinated efforts.
Carlos Lopes, University of Cape Town
As we approach the global annual climate change conference, COP29, the need for increased public finance from the global north to address climate adaptation in Africa has become more urgent than ever.
However, framing the finance debate solely around this need risks deepening mistrust and downplaying the scale of the challenge. The financial burden of addressing climate change, coupled with limited fiscal space, creates a precarious situation for many African countries. African countries bear no historical responsibility for causing the climate crisis. However, they rely heavily on external financing to solve climate change problems.
Unfortunately, much external climate finance comes from loans rather than grants. This only worsens Africa’s debt burden. There is also not nearly enough money being channelled to Africa to pay for climate change adaptation.
At COP29, African negotiators will undoubtedly focus on reducing dependence on debt, and improving access to finance. I’m an economist who specialises in climate change and governance, with a long background at the United Nations and the African Union. Without robust commitments from public financial institutions, Africa will continue to face the dual crises of climate vulnerability and debt.
African countries must use COP29 to tackle systemic biases that inflate risk perceptions, minimise African achievements and inflate its problems. These biases drive up borrowing costs, and worsen commodity dependence.
The climate finance gap
The African Development Bank has estimated that Africa needs between US$1.3 trillion and US$1.6 trillion in total climate financing every year between 2020 and 2030. This will enable African countries to meet their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, known as nationally determined contributions.
The Global Center for Adaptation estimates that Africa requires at least US$52.7 billion annually for adaptation every year until 2035. However, this figure could rise to US$106 billion. This is because data gaps allow for double counting of financial contributions. There is also very little transparency about the real amounts of climate finance being disbursed. Because nationally determined contributions are focused on mitigation, carbon depletion tends to be measured without accurate calculations of the amount of emissions that are captured, or carbon that is conserved.
The United Nations Development Programme says that Africa’s nationally determined contributions mean the continent needs about US$2.8 trillion by 2030 for climate mitigation. However, Africa contributes only 4% of all greenhouse gas emissions currently. It needs funds for adaptation to adjust to climate change that is already changing the lives of many, rather than for mitigation.
But only about half of the climate finance received by Africa in 2022 was for adaptation (US$4.6 billion). The rest of the climate finance addressed mitigation or a mix of both, in line with the global north’s agenda.
Worse still, 64.5% of adaptation financing came from loans, which need to be repaid. This will increase the financial strain on African nations.
Loans versus grants for climate change adaptation
Multilateral financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development through their Development Assistance Committee, handed out US$8.33 billion to Africa in 2022 for climate action. But most of this – US$5.4 billion – was loans. Only US$2.9 billion was grants, with a small fraction in equity investments.
These loans come with lower-than-market rates or extended repayment terms. But they still add to Africa’s external debt, which reached US$1.12 trillion in 2022. African countries’ debt repayments are twice what they get as climate finance.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change says developed countries are responsible for financing climate adaptation in vulnerable regions. But loans that create a huge debt burden only enrich global financial institutions at the expense of African countries.
The effects of climate change are causing unprecedented floods, drought and other disasters across Africa. Yet it is becoming more difficult for African countries to access the climate finance they need to adapt to a warming world.
Why is the situation worsening?
First, access to climate finance remains a bureaucratic nightmare with complex application processes. There also needs to be more transparency in fund allocation. The recently established Loss and Damage Fund could assist. It is meant to channel money to countries worst affected by climate change to pay for the damage caused.
Second, the focus on reforming Bretton Woods institutions and development finance institutions is shifting attention away from the obligations developed countries have signed up for. This distracts developing nations from making reforms in trade, taxation and financial regulations that could drive more meaningful results.
Third, there is a lack of liquidity (access to fresh money) needed to propel investment or allow countries to bridge their budget deficits. African countries are forced to juggle paying for healthcare, education and infrastructure development with paying back debt. Some spend more on debt repayments than healthcare.
Increased tax efficiency and domestic savings, such as the savings maintained by pension funds, could be used. This should be the priority while the fight for better international conditions continues.
Fourth, the distinction between development finance and climate finance is becoming an impediment to progress. The conversation should move away from getting African countries to prioritise greenhouse gas emission reductions at the expense of other development priorities. Climate action is under-implemented and underfunded. The focus must be on excessive dependency on aid and rather promote market incentives to encourage the private sector to invest in climate adaptation in Africa.
Fifth, African negotiators must address the structural barriers that limit access to finance. For example, biased risk perceptions by credit rating agencies prevent African countries from securing finance. Restrictive prudential rules from the Bank for International Settlements intended to preserve international financial system integrity have proven unfavourable to the transformation of the African economies.
Sixth, Africa should make use of regional climate finance platforms and set up cross-border climate change adaptation projects that benefit more than one country.
This will allow Africa to pool resources, coordinate demands and make it easier to negotiate better terms for climate finance. Just energy transition partnerships create an opportunity for countries to secure renewable energy funding for the transition from fossil fuel. Success will depend on effective coordination and regional solidarity in international climate negotiations.
Seventh, African countries have strong potential to use carbon markets to finance climate initiatives, provided they have control over them. Nature-based solutions can go hand in hand with reforestation, sustainable land management or conservation, while generating carbon credits. These are additional funding opportunities for climate adaptation efforts in Africa.
This moment demands bold leadership and a united front to rewrite the rules. African countries must secure the commitments and resources at COP29 that are needed to build a sustainable future.
Carlos Lopes, Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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The Knowledge
Century City: From Hollywood Backlot to Business Hub
Century City, originally part of 20th Century Fox’s backlot, transformed into a prominent business district in Los Angeles during the 1950s amid the decline of cinema. Developer William Zeckendorf envisioned a mixed-use urban center, leading to iconic skyscrapers and establishing the area as a hub for law, finance, and media, blending Hollywood history with modern business.
Before Century City became one of Los Angeles’ premier business districts, it was part of 20th Century Fox’s sprawling backlot, used for filming movies and housing studio operations. By the 1950s, as television rose and movie attendance declined, 20th Century Fox faced financial challenges and decided to sell a portion of its land.
Developer William Zeckendorf envisioned a “city within a city”—a modern, mixed-use urban center with office towers, hotels, and entertainment facilities. Branded Century City, the name paid homage to its studio roots while symbolizing LA’s vision for the future.
The first skyscrapers, including the Gateway West Building, set the tone for the district’s sleek, futuristic skyline. Architects like Welton Becket and Minoru Yamasaki helped shape Century City’s iconic look. Over time, it evolved from Hollywood’s backlot to a corporate and legal hub, attracting law firms, financial institutions, and media companies.
Today, Century City stands as a testament to Los Angeles’ postwar optimism, westward expansion, and multi-centered urban growth—a unique blend of Hollywood history and modern business.
Related STM Daily News Links:
- The Evolution of Los Angeles Public Transportation
- Why Los Angeles Grew Into a Sprawling City
- Downtown Los Angeles: Past, Present, and Future
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Community
Local governments provide proof that polarization is not inevitable
Local politics help mitigate national polarization by focusing on concrete issues like infrastructure and community needs rather than divisive symbolic debates. A survey indicates that local officials experience less partisanship, as interpersonal connections foster recognition of shared interests. This suggests that reducing polarization is possible through collaboration and changes in election laws.
Lauren Hall, Rochester Institute of Technology
When it comes to national politics, Americans are fiercely divided across a range of issues, including gun control, election security and vaccines. It’s not new for Republicans and Democrats to be at odds over issues, but things have reached a point where even the idea of compromising appears to be anathema, making it more difficult to solve thorny problems.
But things are much less heated at the local level. A survey of more than 1,400 local officials by the Carnegie Corporation and CivicPulse found that local governments are “largely insulated from the harshest effects of polarization.” Communities with fewer than 50,000 residents proved especially resilient to partisan dysfunction.
Why this difference? As a political scientist, I believe that lessons from the local level not only open a window onto how polarization works but also the dynamics and tools that can help reduce it.
Problems are more concrete
Local governments deal with concrete issues – sometimes literally, when it comes to paving roads and fixing potholes. In general, cities and counties handle day-to-day functions, such as garbage pickup, running schools and enforcing zoning rules. Addressing tangible needs keeps local leaders’ attention fixed on specific problems that call out for specific solutions, not lengthy ideological debates.
By contrast, a lot of national political conflict in the U.S. involves symbolic issues, such as debates about identity and values on topics such as race, abortion and transgender rights. These battles are often divisive, even more so than purely ideological disagreements, because they can activate tribal differences and prove more resistant to compromise.
Such arguments at the national level, or on social media, can lead to wildly inaccurate stereotypes about people with opposing views. Today’s partisans often perceive their opponents as far more extreme than they actually are, or they may stereotype them – imagining that all Republicans are wealthy, evangelical culture warriors, for instance, or conversely being convinced that all Democrats are radical urban activists. In terms of ideology, the median members of both parties, in fact, look similar.
These kinds of misperceptions can fuel hostility.
Local officials, however, live among the human beings they represent, whose complexity defies caricature. Living and interacting in the same communities leads to greater recognition of shared interests and values, according to the Carnegie/CivicPulse survey.
Meaningful interaction with others, including partisans of the opposing party, reduces prejudice about them. Local government provides a natural space where identities overlap.
People are complicated
In national U.S. politics today, large groups of individuals are divided not only by party but a variety of other factors, including race, religion, geography and social networks. When these differences align with ideology, political disagreement can feel like an existential threat.
Such differences are not always as pronounced at the local level. A neighbor who disagrees about property taxes could be the coach of your child’s soccer team. Your fellow school board member might share your concerns about curriculum but vote differently in presidential elections.
These cross-cutting connections remind us that political opponents are not a monolithic enemy but complex individuals. When people discover they have commonalities outside of politics with others holding opposing views, polarization can decrease significantly.
Finally, most local elections are technically nonpartisan. Keeping party labels off ballots allows voters to judge candidates as individuals and not merely as Republicans or Democrats.
National implications
None of this means local politics are utopian.
Like water, polarization tends to run downhill, from the national level to local contests, particularly in major cities where candidates for mayor and other office are more likely to run as partisans. Local governments also see culture war debates, notably in the area of public school instruction.
Nevertheless, the relative partisan calm of local governance suggests that polarization is not inevitable. It emerges from specific conditions that can be altered.
Polarization might be reduced by creating more opportunities for cross-partisan collaboration around concrete problems. Philanthropists and even states might invest in local journalism that covers pragmatic governance rather than partisan conflict. More cities and counties could adopt changes in election law that would de-emphasize party labels where they add little information for voters.
Aside from structural changes, individual Americans can strive to recognize that their neighbors are not the cardboard cutouts they might imagine when thinking about “the other side.” Instead, Americans can recognize that even political opponents are navigating similar landscapes of community, personal challenges and time constraints, with often similar desires to see their roads paved and their children well educated.
The conditions shaping our interactions matter enormously. If conditions change, perhaps less partisan rancor will be the result.
Lauren Hall, Associate professor of Political Science, Rochester Institute of Technology
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The Bridge is a section of the STM Daily News Blog meant for diversity, offering real news stories about bona fide community efforts to perpetuate a greater good. The purpose of The Bridge is to connect the divides that separate us, fostering understanding and empathy among different groups. By highlighting positive initiatives and inspirational actions, The Bridge aims to create a sense of unity and shared purpose. This section brings to light stories of individuals and organizations working tirelessly to promote inclusivity, equality, and mutual respect. Through these narratives, readers are encouraged to appreciate the richness of diverse perspectives and to participate actively in building stronger, more cohesive communities.
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Making a Difference
Why Christian clergy see risk as part of their moral calling
As clergy join protests against harsh immigration enforcement, a religious ethics scholar explains why many Christian Clergy view personal risk—arrest, backlash, even violence—as part of their vocation to protect vulnerable neighbors.
Laura E. Alexander, University of Nebraska Omaha
As Christian clergy across the United States participate in ongoing protests against harsh immigration enforcement actions and further funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, many are still pondering the words of Rob Hirschfeld. On Jan. 18, 2026, Hirschfeld, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, encouraged clergy in his diocese to “prepare for a new era of martyrdom” and put their wills and affairs in order.
He asserted that “it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.”
Hirschfeld’s words attracted a lot of attention, with clergy generally responding positively, though at least one priest argued that he “did not sign up to be a martyr” and had a family and church relying on him.
Other clergy have willingly faced arrest for their advocacy on behalf of immigrants, seeing it as a moral calling. Rev. Karen Larson was arrested while protesting at the Minneapolis airport. She stated that when people are being separated from their families and taken to unknown detention centers, “this is our call” to protest on their behalf.
As a scholar of religious ethics, I am interested in how Christian clergy and thinkers consider personal risk when they feel called to engage in social action.
Ethics of risk
There are many examples of Christian leaders who have taken on risks out of a religious and moral obligation to provide spiritual care for people in need or advocate for oppressed communities.
Most data on the risks that clergy face in their roles as religious leaders comes from studies of religious leaders in institutional settings, such as hospitals or prisons.
Scholarship on clergy and chaplains in medical settings points to a professional obligation to take on risks. Similar to medical providers who often see risking exposure to infection as part of their professional responsibility, many clergy and chaplains in medical settings understand their vocation to include such a risk.
Questions about professional risks became particularly acute during the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis, when researchers were uncertain exactly how the disease was spread and caregivers feared they might acquire HIV through their bedside work.
In her memoir about chaplaincy with HIV patients, Audrey Elisa Kerr notes that Riverside Church in New York continued to organize funerals, ministries and support groups for HIV/AIDS patients despite “terror” in the wider community about contagion.
As a chaplain herself, Kerr says this story of “radical hospitality” inspired her to set aside her own fears and embrace her professional role caring for people who were ill and dying.
Priests and nuns of the Catholic Church who cared for HIV/AIDS patients in the 1980s risked both the fear of contagion and the disapproval of their bishops and communities, since many of the people they cared for were men who had sex with men.
Some felt, however, that they must care for those at the margins as part of their role in the church or their monastic order. Sister Carol of the Hospital Sisters of Saint Francis felt that it was simply her moral duty as a sister to “go where she was needed,” despite potential risk.
Examination of the ethical obligations of chaplains and clergy ramped up during the COVID-19 pandemic when at least some priest, pastors and hospital chaplains felt an obligation to continue visiting patients for spiritual care.
In a reflection from 2020, Rev. David Hottinger, then working at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, noted that chaplains “felt privileged” to use their professional skills, even though they took on extra risk because they did not always have access to adequate protective equipment.
Risks in other institutional settings are not such a matter of life and death. Because of their professional preaching function, however, clergy in church settings do accept the risk of alienating church members when they feel religiously called to speak about social issues. Rev. Teri McDowell Ott has written about taking risks when discussing LGBTQ+ inclusion and starting a prison ministry.
Risk-taking during social protest
For many clergy, religious and ethical obligations extend beyond their work in institutions like churches and hospitals and include their witness in public life.
Many feel an obligation to preach on issues of moral importance, even topics that are considered controversial and might elicit strong disagreement. It is common for priests and pastors in conservative churches to include messages against legalized abortion in their sermons.
Tom Ascol of the Center for Baptist Leadership urged Baptist pastors to preach about abortion in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.
Rev. Leah Schade, a Lutheran minister and scholar, has argued that since 2017, mainline pastors have preached more often on issues like racism, environmental justice or gun violence. Schade says pastors are inspired to speak more bluntly about social issues because of their religious concern for people who are at risk of harm from injustice or government policies.
Some clergy view their moral obligations as going beyond preaching and leading them to on-the-ground advocacy and protest. Rev. Brandy Daniels of the Disciples of Christ denomination examines these obligations in an article on her participation in a group of interfaith clergy in Portland, Oregon. The group was convened by a local rabbi and supported protesters for racial justice in Portland in 2017. In Daniels’ analysis, clergy took on the risk of staying in the middle of protests and facing a violent police response in order to “bear moral witness,” something they were both empowered and obligated to do as religious leaders.
Risking their lives
There are more extreme cases in which clergy who challenged government leaders or policies were killed for their words and actions of protest.
In a well-known historical example, Bishop Oscar Romero, canonized as a martyred saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 2018, was assassinated in 1980 after speaking out against human rights violations against poor and Indigenous communities committed by the government of El Salvador. Romero viewed himself, in his priestly role, as a representative of God who was obliged to “give voice to the voiceless.”
During recent protests against ICE in Minneapolis and elsewhere, many clergy risked arrest and bodily harm. Rev. Kenny Callaghan, a Metropolitan Community Church pastor, who says that ICE agents in Minneapolis pointed a gun in his face and handcuffed him as he tried to help a woman they were questioning, said, “It’s in my DNA; I have to speak up for marginalized people.”
On Jan. 23, 2026, over 100 clergy were arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport as they protested and prayed against ICE actions. Rev. Mariah Furness Tollgaard said that she and others accepted being arrested as a way of demonstrating public support for migrants who are afraid to leave their homes.
In Chicago, ministers have been hit with projectiles and violently arrested. Presbyterian pastor David Black was shot in the head with a pepper spray projectile while protesting outside an immigration detention center in October 2025.
The clergy have told reporters that they feel a particular call to be out in public and to protect and support their vulnerable neighbors against ICE raids, at a time when families are afraid to go to school or work and U.S. citizens have been swept up in enforcement tactics as well.
As I see it, for these and many Christian clergy and ethicists, the call to ministry includes an obligation to express their values of care for vulnerable neighbors precisely through a public willingness to accept personal risk.
Laura E. Alexander, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Nebraska Omaha
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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