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By Henry Neondo
On Earth Day 2025, the HBCU Green Fund’s Sustainable Africa Future Network convened a dynamic virtual gathering of youth leaders from 16 African countries and across the African Diaspora. With coordination support from its Dakar-based office, the event marked the official launch of the #Road2Belem Action Plan—a unified effort to develop a bold African Youth Climate Justice Statement and raise funds for over 50 young leaders to travel to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, where they will present the statement and advocate for climate equity on the global stage.
“As we head toward COP 30 in Belém, African and African Diaspora youth are building a collective platform that demands climate equity, economic transformation, and environmental sovereignty,” said Illai Kenney, managing director of the HBCU Green Fund.
To carry this effort forward, the HBCU Green Fund’s Sustainable Africa Future Network and its partners will organize a series of virtual roundtables, strategy sessions, and digital campaigns leading up to COP30. These engagements will provide space for broader youth participation and shape the final Climate Justice Statement that youth will deliver in person at the global summit.
“We are issuing an urgent call to organizations, activists, and key actors around the world to sign on and support this vital declaration,” said Vanessa Ngunjiri, of Udgoon Sustainable Development Initiative in Kenya. “Youth can sign on to the statement and the public can contribute to the campaign at hbcugreenfund.org.”
The urgency of this year’s initiative is heightened by the outcomes of COP 29, where international negotiators made significant progress in formalizing Loss and Damage financing mechanisms—a hard-won victory for climate-vulnerable nations. Youth leaders are now pushing to ensure these commitments translate into direct resources for grassroots and youth-led solutions across Africa and the Diaspora.
“A 2024 UNEP report found that 88% of global loss and damage from climate impacts Africa, yet only 2% of global climate finance reaches the continent,” said Denise Ayebare, founder of Better Life International in Uganda.
“We contribute the least to global greenhouse gas emissions but suffer the most severe consequences of climate change,” said Lucky Abeng, founder of the EcoSteward Humanitarian Foundation in Nigeria. “This injustice is a driving force behind our demands for loss and damage funding, debt cancellation, and direct investment in African-led solutions.”
African Youth Climate Justice demand for immediate fulfillment and expansion of Loss and Damage commitments, cancellation of climate-related debt, and direct funding to grassroots youth initiatives. In addition, they called for ending neocolonial carbon offset schemes, ensuring equitable representation, and protecting Indigenous lands and forests through local governance and stewardship and investment in youth-led renewable energy, agroecology, and sustainable industries, with clear pathways for training and employment.
“This initiative represents more than a statement—it’s a movement. We’re building the infrastructure for sustained youth leadership in climate justice across the African continent and Diaspora,” said Saustine Lusanzu, Earthcare Foundation in Tanzania.
This Earth Day convening continues the HBCU Green Fund’s long-standing commitment to youth climate leadership. For more than a decade, the organization has sponsored and prepared youth delegates from countries across Africa to participate in annual UN climate conferences. Its annual pre-COP programming equips the next generation of environmental justice advocates with the tools to influence international policy and push for systemic change.