This is the first meeting of its kind in Africa. In the coming months, the group will present a common plan to other world leaders at the COP 28 United Nations climate summit.

Delegates at the summit will discuss a new funding model to help governments reduce carbon emissions over the next three days.

The Kenyan president said Africa should not be a victim of global warming, but rather a part of the solution.

At the meeting’s opening, he told delegates, “We have looked at this as a problem for a long time. Let’s look at it from the other side.”

We are not here to catalogue grievances and list problems, we are here to scrutinise ideas, assess perspectives, to unlock solutions.”

Most of the worst effects of climate change occur in African countries, despite being among the smallest contributors.