Africa’s Climate Future in a Fragmented Multipolar World

For African nations, this changing landscape presents both opportunities and challenges. Middle powers offer alternative development models and strategic partnerships. Yet history has shown that shifts in global power do not automatically lead to more equitable relations. African feminist scholars, including Dr Charmaine Pereira, Prof. Sylvia Tamale and decolonial feminist scholar Françoise Vergès, have pointed out that while alliances like BRICS+ may offer an alternative to western-led cooperation, they do not necessarily dismantle the deep-rooted hierarchies of exploitation. If these partnerships are not approached critically, they risk reinforcing Africa’s economic and political dependence rather than breaking from it.

What makes this moment different is not just the redistribution of global power but the crises unfolding alongside it. Unlike past shifts, today’s geopolitical tensions unfold amid a poly-crisis of climate emergency, gender inequality, democracy’s backsliding and conflict requiring multilateral action. Yet, multilateralism is under attack. These attacks are particularly strong from countries that previously championed the rules and norms of cooperation and institutionalism in international affairs.