Namibia has emerged as one of the most consistent and uncompromising voices in global climate diplomacy, demanding that wealthy nations honour their US$100 billion-a-year climate finance pledge and provide fair, accessible, and predictable funding for adaptation and mitigation.
From Minister Pohamba Shifeta’s fiery speech at COP29 in Baku to President Dr Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s measured but firm address at COP30 in Belém, Namibia has framed climate change not as a debate about charity, but as a fight for justice and accountability.
At COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024, Environment, Forestry and Tourism Minister Pohamba Shifeta took the floor as his country battled its worst drought in more than 60 years, prompting the government to declare a national state of emergency.
He described how extreme drought, rising temperatures, and erratic rainfall had devastated crops, displaced communities, and deepened rural poverty — stark evidence of the widening gap between global promises and the realities faced by frontline nations.
“We came to Baku with renewed hope that COP29 would deliver on climate finance. There is no need to beg for those who caused the damage to pay — we are simply asking the developed world to honour its commitments under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement,” Shifeta told delegates.
He condemned the slow progress toward the US$100 billion per-year target, first pledged in Copenhagen in 2009 and reaffirmed under the Paris Agreement.
“We cannot repeat ourselves for a call of a floor of US$100 billion per annum as a new collective quantified goal, time and again, when scientific reports are clear on what needs to be done and the associated costs,” Shifeta said.
Namibia’s minister was emphatic that climate finance should not take the form of loans or conditional grants, but rather as fair compensation under the polluter-pays principle.
“We are not here to negotiate for loans or grants. We are here to ask for fair and just compensation for the climate damage caused by those who committed environmental crimes,” he said.
Shifeta’s speech captured the frustration of developing countries that continue to suffer disproportionately from climate change while receiving only a fraction of the financing they were promised.
He warned that without adequate funding, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) would remain “unimplemented”, and the world would fail to meet its collective temperature goals.
“Wisdom without action is meaningless and useless,” he said, urging negotiators to act decisively in Baku to deliver “an ambitious climate finance goal that makes a greener world possible, in a fair and just manner.”
One year later, at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, the message was carried forward — now delivered by President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, in her first appearance as Head of State at a UN climate conference.
While the tone was more measured, the urgency was unmistakable.
Nandi-Ndaitwah outlined the scale of Namibia’s ambition and its financial need.
She said Namibia would require US$15 billion (about N$285 billion) to meet its climate targets by 2030, of which US$13 billion (N$247 billion) — or 90 per cent — would depend on international support.
The country’s Second Updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) commits to reducing emissions by 11.9 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent through both mitigation and removal efforts.
“Our mean temperatures have risen at twice the global average. More than eighty per cent of Namibia’s landmass is arid or semi-arid, and seventy percent of our population depends directly on agriculture. Droughts and floods are eroding GDP growth and reversing development gains,” the President said.
Dr Nandi-Ndaitwah placed Namibia’s Green Hydrogen Strategy at the centre of its energy transition, highlighting the Oshivela Green Iron Plant, launched in early 2025 as Africa’s first zero-emission iron facility powered entirely by green hydrogen.
The project, she said, would prevent 27,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually and serve as a model for green industrialisation across the continent.
She also reaffirmed Namibia’s position as a net carbon sink, citing evidence from its First Biennial Transparency Report and Fifth National Communication submitted to the UNFCCC Secretariat in December 2024, which showed a 45 per cent increase in carbon removals since 1990.
But even as Namibia takes action, the President said, the global financial system remains stacked against developing countries.
“The cost of capital in developing nations is exceptionally high, based on perceived risks that do not reflect the realities on the ground. To meet our 2030 targets, access to predictable, affordable, and sustainable finance must become a reality — not a promise,” she said.
Dr Nandi-Ndaitwah called on multilateral development banks and wealthy nations to operationalise the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on Climate Finance, which has been proposed at US$1.3 trillion (about N$24.7 trillion) per year — a significant step-up from the still-unmet US$100 billion pledge.
She also demanded that the Loss and Damage Fund, agreed in principle at COP27, be operationalised and made accessible to countries already suffering irreversible harm.
“Climate finance should move beyond pledges and be accessible directly to developing countries. If we ignore equity, we will be planning for maladaptation, failure, and the destruction of livelihoods,” she said.
Both leaders framed Namibia’s appeal not as an act of desperation but as a moral demand grounded in fairness, science, and shared humanity.
From Shifeta’s impassioned plea in Baku to Nandi-Ndaitwah’s statesmanlike address in Belém, the through-line remains clear: wealthy nations must honour their promises, reform the system, and pay their climate debt.
Shifeta’s closing words at COP29 — “We are not here to beg” — found their echo in Dr Nandi-Ndaitwah’s final statement at COP30: “The world will not judge us by how many climate conferences we host, but by the real actions we take to save our planet.”
