4th March 2026
Commitments made at the COP 30 climate conference in Belém, Brazil, last year offer tangible opportunities for Africa, a senior official from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) said this week.
Karin Reiss, UNIDO programme manager, was speaking during a panel discussion at Africa Energy Indaba 2026, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Tuesday.
Reiss highlighted several key outcomes from COP 30, including agreements to triple climate adaptation finance by 2035, establish a Just Transition Mechanism to ensure fairness in the shift to a green economy, and adopt 59 global indicators to track progress on adaptation.
She stressed that global emissions targets cannot be achieved without green industrialization and job creation. This imperative was recognized in the Belém Declaration on Green Industrialization, adopted at COP 30. UNIDO is now working to operationalize the declaration and translate it into concrete action, she said.
Africa is forecast to experience the fastest growth in renewable energy, Reiss noted, but much of the required technology still needs to be imported. This underscores the importance of developing green industrial capacity on the continent. The energy transition, she argued, presents a unique opportunity for Africa to industrialize sustainably.
She also referred to the 2025 G20 Summit in South Africa, which launched the Sustainable Industrial Hubs initiative. The hubs are envisaged as centres for low-carbon industrialization powered by green energy and already have the backing of several countries.
UNIDO has a “really strong role to play” in supporting Africa’s green industrialisation, Reiss said. The organisation can assist with national policy formulation and planning, build technical and workforce capacity, and facilitate high-level skills transfer for decision-makers.
In addition, UNIDO can help promote greater international alignment on green standards and policies. Reiss cited the absence of a globally agreed definition of “green steel” as an example, warning that Africa must not be sidelined in emerging regulatory and standards discussions.
“Climate finance is there, it’s available,” she said, adding that the international climate community can help African governments unlock and access those funds.