President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for the African continent to speak with one clear voice to "express unwavering support" for the implementation of the United Nations Climate Change Convention and its Paris Agreement.

He was speaking during the virtual meeting on the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) on June 8.

He said that while the continent was dealing with the impact of the pandemic on human health, societies and economies, Africa continued to bear the brunt of climate change, with annual costs to African economies of between 3% to 5% of their gross domestic product.

“Africa continues to be one of the most affected regions and frequently experiences phenomena associated with global warming.

"These include droughts, floods, cyclones and other extreme weather events, which have caused enormous damage to infrastructure and displaced thousands of people,” Ramaphosa said.

He added that progress in addressing the global challenge of climate change depended on collective bargaining.

“We need a strong and well-coordinated common African position and it can only be achieved when we all honour our mutual commitments and respect our common, but differentiated, responsibilities.”

“It is absolutely imperative that everyone must contribute their fair share if we are to limit global warming to the agreed target of well-below 2 °C, build the resilience of our economies and ensure the safety and well-being of our citizens.”

Ramaphosa said the international community needed to significantly scale up its efforts, raise the level of ambition and support developing countries with the means to implement climate actions.

“We need to adopt key messages that encapsulate Africa’s aspirations and work together in the spirit of unity and solidarity as a continent.

"We need to send a clear message that all African countries require support from international partners and that our development space should be respected to achieve our climate goals and ambitions, while contributing our fair share to the global effort,” Ramaphosa said.

“We need recognition of our different national circumstances and capacities as it is not realistic to expect us to meet the same timelines as developed countries to transition our economies and to disinvest from fossil fuels. Increased ambition for action must be matched with enhanced ambition for support,” he added.

Ramaphosa highlighted that it was clear that Africa would need climate change, environment and sustainable development initiatives to be implemented at a much larger scale than it currently was.

“This is not only to contribute significantly to Africa’s green recovery, but also to fully realise the Africa we want as espoused in Agenda 2063.

"We must therefore do everything within our means to ensure a successful outcome of COP26 in November this year, particularly for Africa,” he said.