Developing nations, Africa in particular, and climate-vulnerable regions around the world arrived in Belém, Brazil, to attend the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30).
From 10th to 21st November, the Ugandan delegation led by Beatrice Anywar, the State Minister for Environment, engaged in different high-level discussions to push for support to address the climate challenges the country faces.
These include effects such as rising heat, frequent floods, prolonged drought and other climate disasters that are already affecting people’s livelihoods, farming, and local economies.
According to Minister Anywar, Uganda was looking for clearer and stronger commitments on climate finance, especially money to help the country deal with climate disasters, recover from climate-related losses, and advance to cleaner energy without affecting its development.
However, as the negotiations continued for two weeks, it became clear that not all of Uganda’s goals were met. Some progress was indeed made, but many of the promises of developing countries, including Uganda, which were hoped for, remained uncertain or postponed.
Still, Uganda continues to push hard for simpler and quicker access to the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF), additional support for climate adaptation projects, fair consideration in the energy transition discussions, and protection from biased exploitation of Uganda’s minerals that are needed for green or renewable technologies.
While a few goals were only partly achieved, others will require more focus and action going forward.
To see and understand what Uganda gained at COP30 and what it didn’t, Dr. Barirega Akankwasah, the Executive Director of National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), a member of the delegation, told this website that the country achieved some important outcomes, including;
Adaptation finance goal, where countries agreed to triple global adaptation finance to around USD 120 billion per year by 2035. Although this is way below what Africa wanted and delayed, Akankwasah explains that it officially makes adaptation finance a core pillar of the global climate system.
He further adds that for the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) indicators, the member states (parties) adopted a first set of about 59 global indicators to track progress on climate change adaptation.
He explains that these indicators will guide how countries, including Uganda, measure and report their progress in adapting to climate change impacts.
On climate finance for adaptation and Loss-and-Damage (L&D), Akankwasah says that the money is collected into a shared pool or envelope by different countries and donors. It is not given directly to one country, but it is put in a global pool where every country, including Uganda can benefit from.
Uganda is co-chairing a new Green Climate Fund (GCF) Country Platform Hub (CP Hub) with Brazil and the V20 (Vulnerable Twenty), a group of 20 countries that are most vulnerable to rising seas, extreme weather events.
“This is designed to help developing countries turn national priorities into well-planned projects that can attract large-scale climate and nature finance,” he says.
The Funds for Responding to Loss & Damage Fund (FRLD) is now fully operational with a call for proposals and Uganda is eligible to apply, but allocations will come later through project/program submissions.
NDC, Policy work
According to Akankwasah, the new adaptation indicators and enhanced focus on tracking resilience mean that Uganda will need to include clearer adaptation goals and ways to measure them in the next NDC, National Adaptation Plan updates and sector plans like agriculture, water, health, and urban development.
He adds that the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) review outcome explicitly pushes Parties to integrate loss and damage into national response plans, which Uganda will have to reflect in NDCs, NAP and disaster-risk frameworks.
At COP30, Uganda announced it will soon launch the National Black Carbon Action Plan. This plan will be integrated into the national climate strategies and directly connect efforts to reduce air pollution with the protection of people’s health and climate mitigation.
On climate finance-driven planning, Akankwasah says that the GCF Country Platform Hub, co-led by Uganda, encourages the country to move from funding one project at a time to prepare bigger and ready-to-fund programs.
“This means making the National development strategies, climate action plans, local parish development model, and green-growth strategies work together,” he explains.
Missed Opportunities/Concerns
He explains that Africa is grappling with insufficient and delayed finance. He mentioned that adaptation fund tripling was pushed to 2035, and Loss & Damage finance remains far below needs.
“There is no clear burden-sharing roadmap. For a highly vulnerable country like Uganda, this is a serious gap,” he states.
In addition, the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) and related initiatives are promising but still largely voluntary and not fully capitalised. “There is no dedicated, guaranteed stream for African biodiversity at the scale required, he adds.
Win on Fossil Fuels
While different Civil Society groups and climate activists got disappointed about the failure to include the phase-out of oil and gas production, Uganda and other emerging oil and gas developers were happy the negotiators did not look there.
At least 29 countries were pushing for a phase-out of fossil fuels but the Global Climate Action Agenda at COP30 Outcomes Report does not mention a phase-out of fossil fuels.
Uganda was negotiating as part of the Least Developed Countries Group (LDC) and the G77and China was strategically demanding equity, transition support, and transition policy flexibility that is country-determined and non-prescriptive.
COP29 In Baku
Last year, a controversy over fossil fuel extraction also took centre stage at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, coupled with protests. Uganda was blamed for implementing two oil projects, namely Telenga and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) projects.
But President Yoweri Museveni says that Uganda’s Oil Exploration Plan will be implemented according to schedule, and he remains committed and set on witnessing Uganda’s oil exploration project and development plan concluded as stipulated. Museveni further maintained that petroleum products are for the domestic and EAC markets.
Still, Dr. Akankwasah, says that oil and gas exploration and production will contribute towards sustainable environment management, adding that the government has agreed that all the oil revenues should go into powering a faster energy transition for Uganda.
“So, the idea is that we get to sell our oil and gas products, generate money, and help the economy to transition into cleaner energies,” he stated.
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