Open Letter to the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels

The systemic disregard for African lives and environments in global policy is an extension of historical racial hierarchies. By positioning African experts, activists, and communities as the architects of their own futures, we are engaging in a direct act of decolonization. This shift ensures Africans are the drivers of global transformation - shaping agendas rather than merely responding to imposed Western policies.

To translate agency into impact, we have joined over 150 organizations in demanding reparations. The consequences of fossil extractivism - floods, droughts, forced displacement, and the degradation of health and biodiversity—are already unfolding. To ignore these realities is to perpetuate injustice.