A continent’s summit: Ethiopia prepares to host COP32 — and the world is listening
There is a certain gravity to the news that Ethiopia is poised to host the United Nations climate summit, COP32, in 2027. It is not merely a line on a calendar. It is Addis Ababa, a city that once hosted pan-African dreams and now may host one of the most consequential climate gatherings of our decade — a stage where countries that have historically been sidelined by emissions debates will be able to press their own stories, demands and urgencies.
“The AGN has endorsed Ethiopia,” Richard Muyungi, chair of the Africa Group of Negotiators, announced in Belém, Brazil, where COP30 is currently underway. The endorsement, while informal for now, is expected to be ratified by all nations before the conference closes on 21 November — a procedural step that is likely to be a formality, but one that still carries symbolic weight.
Why Ethiopia? Why now?
Ethiopia is more than geography; it is history. Home to the African Union headquarters, the city of Addis Ababa is a diplomatic crossroads. Its highland air carries the smells of coffee roasting in street stalls, and the rhythm of the city — taxis, coffee ceremonies, market sellers calling out prices — gives the summit room a human pulse rarely felt in Geneva conference centers.
“Hosting COP here would put African voices in the very rooms where the rules are written,” said a climate policy expert working with civil society groups in Addis. “It will change the optics — and hopefully the politics — of who gets heard.”
There is a pragmatic logic to the choice as well. Africa contributes only a small fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions — roughly 3–4% by most estimates — yet it faces some of the most acute and immediate climate impacts: from chronic drought in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel to devastating floods in parts of East and West Africa, as well as sea-level rise threatening coastal cities.
A COP on African soil can shine a brighter spotlight on adaptation, loss and damage, and the stubborn gap between finance pledged and finance delivered. Remember the $100 billion climate finance pledge? It has been a headline figure for years but remains a sore point between richer and poorer nations.
Voices from the streets of Addis — local color and expectations
Walk through a neighborhood near Merkato, one of Africa’s largest open-air markets, and you’ll hear the city’s expectations in the voice of everyday people.
“When the world comes here, they will see our children, our farms, our rivers,” said Amina Bekele, who sells incense and coffee by the roadside. “We do not want speeches. We want help when the rains stop, when the soil cracks, when the harvest fails.”
Across town, a young Addis-based organizer, Elias Tadesse, spoke with a mixture of pride and urgency. “Hosting COP is a call — an invitation to face the imbalances. We hope our farmers, pastoralists and urban poor are not an afterthought in the negotiations.”
And there are cultural threads that would make a conference here different. Delegates could be offered a slow morning coffee ceremony — a ritual of hospitality and conversation — that forces people to sit, to listen, to exchange. That symbolic gesture could humanize complex talks about emissions, finance and timelines.
The unfinished business: COP31 and a looming deadlock
If the path to COP32 is smoothing out, the road to COP31 is kinked. Australia has put forward Adelaide as its bid to host next year’s conference, while Turkey has pressed for Antalya. The two countries belong to the same UN regional bloc — “Western Europe and Other States” — and UN procedures require consensus within the bloc. At present, neither side is ready to concede.
Negotiators in Belém are still working to break the impasse. If they cannot reach a decision, the fallback would be to hold COP31 at the UN Climate Change headquarters in Bonn, Germany. That default scenario — a congress convened in a familiar, less symbolic location — would be unprecedented in the modern history of climate summits and could signal a worrying inability to find consensual ground even on logistics.
“Deadlocks over host cities might sound procedural, but they reveal deeper geopolitical tensions,” said a veteran diplomat who has worked several COPs. “If the system can’t agree on where to meet, how can it hope to agree on the thornier questions — finance, loss and damage, or emissions pathways?”
Why the site matters
Location is not neutral. Which city hosts matters for access, for representation, and for narrative. A summit in Ethiopia would be a powerful statement about centering the Global South in climate decision-making: giving African ministers a shorter flight, enabling more community voices to attend, and forcing negotiators to confront realities of climate impacts they may otherwise see only in slide decks.
On the other hand, logistical challenges are real: costs of travel for officials and activists, the need for secure and accessible venues, and the capacity to host thousands of delegates and observers in a city where infrastructure is being tested by rapid urban growth.
Big themes: equity, finance, and the climate justice question
At its heart, COP32 in Ethiopia would not be a ceremonial novelty. It could be a pivot point for conversations that have long frustrated negotiators: Who pays for adaptation? Who compensates for lost livelihoods? How is “fair share” of emissions cuts calculated, especially when industrialized nations built their wealth on centuries of high carbon output?
“Africa did not build the carbon economy, yet she pays some of the highest bills,” said a climate justice advocate in Nairobi. “Hosting the COP here is about asking richer countries to meet their obligations — morally, politically and financially.”
Whatever the outcome in Belém this week, the conversations around host cities illuminate a larger truth: climate diplomacy is not only about science and targets. It is about trust, representation and who gets to set the terms of the deal.
Looking forward — questions to sit with
Will a COP in Ethiopia change the calculus in the room? Can a venue in Africa amplify demands for adaptation finance and faster action on loss and damage? Or will the same entrenched power dynamics simply shift their setting?
When you picture global climate action, do you imagine a neutral, technocratic space — or a room shaped by whose voices are in it? Hosting decisions matter because the venue influences who is visible, who is heard, and what stories make it into the final text.
As delegates return to the negotiating tables in Belém this week, and as communities in Addis start preparing for what could be an unforgettable international moment, one question lingers: will the world use a COP on African soil as an opportunity to move from tired promises to tangible change?
- Fact: Africa produces roughly 3–4% of global greenhouse gas emissions while shouldering disproportionately severe climate impacts.
- Fact: The $100 billion annual climate finance pledge remains a central demand in global talks, with persistent gaps between promise and delivery.
- Fact: UN climate talks rotate by regional blocs; host-country selection requires consensus and can be a flashpoint for geopolitical tension.
There is a paradox in the air: a city famous for hospitality may soon host a summit where the world will argue about who bears the costs of a warming planet. If COP32 comes to Ethiopia, it will be a test — not just of diplomatic skill, but of global willingness to listen when those most affected finally have the microphone.
