Africa and Climate Justice at COP27 and beyond: impacts and solutions through an interdisciplinary lens

We would like to thank the reviewers and editorial team for taking the time to carefully review our article. We found the comments extremely helpful. Please see below our response to your comments:

• Page 5, change 100 thousand to 100,000 - All done thanks.
• Page 6, Climate justice is also incorporated in terms of adaptation to climate change frameworks – see Ch 1 of WGII of the Sixth Assessment Report (2022). This could be mentioned here. Thank you this has been addressed
• Page 8, I do not see a reference to Figure 1 in the text. Perhaps this could be made in the discussion ‘Framing Climate Justice’? At the moment is seems to sit in a sub-section all of its own (‘Climate Justice at the root of impact’). All done many thanks. 
• Page 9, seems to seek to redefine vulnerability, a term used widely in the literature, as ‘Simply put, we can no longer see vulnerability as those exposed to natural disasters but how the most marginalised in society are particularly vulnerable to climatic changes.’ I would suggest that vulnerability is still required as a broad definition, used in the literature to assess risk, but the point here should be greater emphasis is needed on the most marginalised groups. Thank you for your query. The conversation around vulnerabillity in climate change is not clear. The concept of vulnerability is not static and is not interchangeable with marginalization. Vulnerable groups are not necesarily always marginalized. The argument proposed in the literature is highlighting that how we see and address vulnerability needs to be reviewed through a different lens. One that considers inequity in different forms such as social, economical, environmental, etc. 
• Page 13, capitalise 6^th Assessment Report. All done thanks. 
• Page 14, Table 1: I wonder if something more precise could be provided for 5-6C higher. Was this information derived from the 6^th Assessment Report? If so, indicate in the caption with citation. this was developed by Mark (though the information is presented in a number of publications, perhaps it would be useful to indicate references consulted): Thank you we have added in references for the table and also amended text for the 5-6C higher scenario. As a group we would still advocate for the world not to go there but have unpacked what the implication of this would be.
• Page 21, In Figure 2 could you either indicate a source for this data or is this collated from a number of sources, or is this referring to funding from a particular source e.g., UN, or from a range of different funding sources? -The source is indicated in the previous paragraph. The sentence states " Figure 2 below highlights how funding has been allocated across the continent ​(103)" : Thank you this has been clarified and is based on reference no 103. 
• Page 23, states that the language around climate change needs certainty but can you elaborate on the way this is not the case currently. Is it not the case that the language is more certain than the response? The subsequent paragraph suggests it is actions that need attention rather than language. Thank you we have clarified this point in the paper text.
• Page 26, Figure 3 is not referred to in the text – could a direct link to this be provided at a relevant point. All done thanks. 

Climate justice needs to be at the heart of the COP27 negotiations in Sharm El Sheikh. Climate justice is not just a financial transaction to protect the environment. It needs to be seen as the protection of the most vulnerable in society after centuries of resource exploitation. African countries disproportionately face impacts of climate change on their environments, their economies, their resources, and their infrastructure. This leads to greater vulnerability and increased exposure to the negative effects of a changing climate. In this article, we highlight the importance of climate justice and its role within the UN negotiations, and ultimately in concrete action. We discuss current climate impacts across key sectors in the African region, with a focus on health, infrastructure, food and water scarcity, energy, and finance. All sectors are affected by climate change. They are interconnected and under threat. This triggers a ripple effect, where threats in one sector have a knock-on effect on other sectors. We find that the current set of intergovernmental institutions have failed to adequately address climate justice. We also contend that a siloed approach to climate action has proven to be ineffective. As we head towards the next set of negotiations (COP27), this paper argues that the economic and social conditions in Africa can be addressed through financial and collaborative support for adaptation and localised solutions, but that this will only be achieved if climate justice is prioritised by the decision makers. This needs to include a global-scale transition in how climate finance is assessed and accessed. Climate justice underpins real effective and sustainable solutions for climate action in Africa.