Q&A: Could COP30 spur fossil fuels' end? This activist thinks so

• Growing alliance calls for end to coal, gas, oil
• Fossil fuels have failed Africans but solar is key
• COP30 moment to find funds for green transition

JOHANNESBURG -  Nobel Laureates, scientists, the World Health Organization and cities around the world have all backed a commitment to phase out planet-heating fossil fuels.

Supporters of the global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative (FFNPTI) - with 17 countries and over a million individual signatories - is hoping to gain more traction at November's U.N. COP30 summit in Belém, Brazil.

The initiative is rapidly gaining momentum, its Africa campaigner Prince Papa, based in Nairobi, said.

He aims to join campaigners in Belém to call on private investors to support countries pledging to phase out oil, gas and coal.

Papa spoke to Context about what the treaty could mean for Africa and other country treaty supporters.

What exactly is The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative calling for?

While the Paris agreement is focusing on emissions reduction, it doesn't necessarily tackle the root cause of climate change: fossil fuels.

We are guided by three pillars.

A financed just transition where the transition focuses (on) the rights of workers.

Then we have no new fossil fuels, or the non-proliferation of fossil fuels.

The last pillar is called a fair phase-out. The developed world must phase out their reliance on fossil fuels fast while allowing developing countries a longer timeline and the necessary support like technology and financing to do the same.

What does cutting out fossil fuels look like from a practical perspective?

Africa has the largest potential in the world in terms of harnessing the power of solar.

The fossil fuels industry is not sustainable. Coal power plants have a timeline after which they eventually retire and solar and renewables must be phased in to replace them.

Let's look at Kenya. It now has 90% of its energy coming from renewable energy. Kenya is a practical example of a country that can run entirely on renewables. And it has a promising policy to achieve 100% by 2030.

What do you say to people who believe it's unrealistic to fully phase out fossil fuels?

We have over 600 million Africans without access to electricity. That's equivalent to 10 countries the same size of Kenya.

If the fossil fuel industry cannot provide for this electricity access, then how can we not question it?

The mining that we get from Africa, be it coal, oil and gas - over 80% is exported to other countries. Then for that which is refined, they come back to us and we buy it at a premium.

No single African country must allow its critical minerals to leave the country in raw form. Let's mine minerals needed for clean energy, let's refine and let's own the entire process and the value chain.

What will the initiative be calling for at COP30?

The Journey Fund was announced in the week before COP, which aims to benefit those that have joined the treaty.

The fund will call on (the) private sector to divest from fossil fuels and invest in green transitions in jurisdictions that support the Fossil Fuel Treaty.

We have philanthropic partners interested in financing this, so it's going to be a mix of revenue from different sources, including developed countries.

Then we hope also to have a ministerial convening of the supporting nations, the 17 of them, alongside observers.

We also plan to discuss green minerals needed to support this transition and how the communities where these minerals are situated can be in control of this through local mineral processing.

This is a huge opportunity for Africa.

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities the treaty has faced?

The treaty is calling for a big change. And change, no matter how small or big, always faces some kind of resistance.

For so many decades, the world has been driven by fossil fuels as the primary source of energy and the fossil fuel industry will try whatever they can to safeguard their businesses.

There is that heavy cost involved in just managing the change, in campaigning for and communicating this change.

But this is also an opportunity and that is renewables.

For Africa, we believe this will open up more development in a manner that has never been witnessed before. Africa is going to be a producer and consumer of its own clean energy.

Tackling climate change requires this global cooperation. No single country, no single continent, can do it alone.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

This story was updated on Monday, November 3, 2025 at 13:35 GMT, to reflect the new name of the fund in paragraph 22.

(Reporting by Kim Harrisberg @KimHarrisberg; Editing by Jack Graham and Jon Hemming.)