Webinar - From Courts to COP: Harnessing Legal Momentum for African Climate Reparations

On August 25, African Futures Lab, in partnership with AU Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) (external link)and Biophilic Conversations (external link), hosted the webinar "From Courts to COP: Harnessing Legal Momentum for African Climate Reparations." Moderated by our Research and Policy Advisor, Dr. Patrick Toussaint (external link), the event brought together leading experts to discuss how recent landmark rulings are empowering Africa's position in global climate negotiations.

The panel explored recent advisory opinions from the International Court of Justice, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Speakers highlighted how these rulings create binding legal obligations for states to prevent climate harm and deliver reparations.

Legal experts affirmed that these breakthroughs give African advocates new leverage. The discussion also highlighted the potential of a pending advisory opinion from the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights to further strengthen the continent’s bargaining power ahead of COP30. Speakers noted that advisory opinions provide legal backing for the climate struggle and open the door to holding corporate polluters accountable.

This webinar forms part of a broader wave of momentum – from growing grassroots mobilization to coordinated legal strategies – building towards African Climate Week, the Second African Climate Summit, and COP30 in Belém. Courts have spoken. Now it’s Africa’s turn to translate these rulings into action, shifting the balance of power and shaping a future rooted in justice and accountability.

1. The climate advisory opinions affirm states’ legal duties: The recent advisory opinions from the ICJ, IACtHR and ITLOS confirm that states have clear obligations to protect human rights, prevent climate harm, and provide remedies. This gives African actors stronger grounds to demand accountability.
2. The petition for an advisory opinion from the AfCHPR centers on African realities and law:  The request aims to ground climate reparations in Africa’s own human rights framework, especially Article 24 of the African Charter on the right to a healthy environment. It can strengthen Africa’s legal basis to demand accountability, complement the ICJ, IACtHR & ITLOS opinions, and provide a regionally rooted framework for strategic litigation and advocacy.
3. Local knowledge strengthens climate justice: Recognizing Indigenous knowledge, customary law, and community expertise ensures solutions are relevant and builds ownership of climate justice efforts across Africa.
   
4. Science and lived realities must guide strategic litigation: The courts recognized the role of science and the disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities. Strategic legal action for climate reparations benefits from robust documentation of the lived realities, and advances in attribution science to link climate harms to state and corporate responsibility.
   
5. Reparations address past and present harm while laying the foundation for future claims and long-term justice. Women and other marginalised groups must be central to such demands.
   
6. Reparations can be transformative and go beyond financial compensation: Meaningful reparations tackle systemic inequalities and historical injustices, delivering lasting change rather than short-term payouts. They include ecological restoration, social justice & rehabilitation of essential systems, ecosystem restoration, debt cancellation, acknowledgment of past and ongoing injustices, and guarantees of non-repetition.
   
7. Climate finance should not be framed as aid: Financial contributions to repair climate damage should be based on historical responsibility and reparative justice, not charity.
   
8. Past and present injustices must be fully acknowledged and addressed: Reparations must account for centuries of slavery, colonialism, extractive exploitation, and ongoing illicit financial flows, ensuring that stolen wealth and resources are restored to Africa.
   
9. Reparations strategies should be locally led to be context-specific: Grassroots voices, Indigenous knowledge, and frontline defenders must be re-powered, ensuring that reparations agendas reflect community needs and lived realities. Many African communities already understand the concept of reparations, even if they use different terms; advocacy should build on this local understanding to drive action.
   
10. Climate reparations serve to uphold people’s dignity and protect ecosystems: The narrative should affirm the worth of marginalized communities and degraded environments, linking human and ecological well-being.
    
11. The time is ripe for Africa to build solidarity and shared narratives: Lessons from Caribbean and Latin American movements can strengthen Africa’s reparations demands. South-South alliances and accessible language make it easier for communities to understand, claim, and shape reparations.