In a joint declaration, African leaders have proposed a global carbon tax regime. The Nairobi Declaration concluded the three-day Africa Climate Summit in Kenya's capital.
The document,published on Wednesday, demanded that major polluters devote more resources to assisting less developed nations.
African heads of state have stated that they will use it as the foundation for their negotiating position at the COP28 summit in November.
The African Climate Summit was dominated by discussions on how to mobilize funding for adaptation to increasingly extreme weather, conservation of natural resources, and development of renewable energy.
Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to the effects of climate change, but according to researchers, it receives only a minor percentage of the roughly $300bn (£240bn) in annual funding it requires to adapt.
The Nairobi Declaration encouraged world leaders to support the proposal for a global carbon taxation regime, which would include a carbon tax on fossil fuel commerce, maritime transport, and aviation, and could be supplemented by a global financial transaction tax.
Activist for human rights Graca Machel told the sources that the declaration was a huge step forward. She stated that Africa is a player and the center of the world cannot exist without Africa.
According to Graca Machel, Africa is here to offer opportunities, investment opportunities, and solutions.
Such measures, according to the Nairobi Declaration, would assure large-scale financing for climate-related investments and insulate the issue of tax increases from geopolitical and domestic political pressures.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), approximately two dozen countries presently impose carbon taxes, but the concept of a global carbon tax regime has failed to gain traction.
On Tuesday, President William Ruto of Kenya referred to previous European Union proposals for a financial transaction tax.
Conservation groups stated in 2011 that tax revenue should be used to fund environmental priorities, but the European Commission's proposal never received the required unanimous approval from the European Council to become law.
Senior advisor for the charity Christian Aid, Joab Bwire Okanda, stated that the call for a global carbon tax was welcome, but that "to make polluters really pay, false solutions like carbon credits that give polluters a free ride without taking meaningful action must be thrown away."
Some environmentalists argue that the credits, which enable polluters to offset emissions by funding green activities, are merely an excuse for large polluters to continue emitting carbon dioxide.
Over the course of three days, international governments, development banks, private investors, and philanthropists committed a total of $23 billion (£18 billion) to green initiatives, including hundreds of millions to a major carbon markets initiative, according to Mr. Ruto.
However, African leaders acknowledged that such investments only scratch the surface of the continent's financial requirements and stated that additional systemic changes are required.
According to some analysts, the summit did not place sufficient emphasis on how to assist Africans adapt to extreme weather.
Protesters demonstrated outside the conference in opposition to Africa's proposal to sell carbon credits to foreign countries.
Several foreign corporations and nations, including the United Arab Emirates, have committed hundreds of millions of dollars in carbon credit purchases from the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI).
