On paper, this is an opportunity for Ethiopia to prove that it can handle events of global scale and use them to strengthen its green ambitions.
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Ethiopia has officially been selected to host the 2027 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP32. This conference is among the largest in the world. When COP30 took place in Brazil in November 2025, it drew more than 50,000 participants, including world leaders, activists, and journalists. That scale reveals both the immense opportunity ahead for Ethiopia and the equally significant preparation it will demand.
Hosting COP32 could bring visible benefits. It will draw global attention to Africa’s environmental challenges and create a platform for African negotiators to push harder for climate finance and technology transfer. The summit will likely boost Ethiopia’s tourism, hospitality, and construction sectors. Hotels will fill, roads will be refurbished, and new infrastructure projects may take shape to accommodate the thousands of delegates expected to arrive from around the world. On paper, this is an opportunity for Ethiopia to prove that it can handle events of global scale and use them to strengthen its green ambitions.
But there are reasons for skepticism. Climate conferences like COP have long been criticized for producing lofty promises with little follow-through. Behind the polished speeches and smiling photo sessions, the carbon footprint of these gatherings is massive. The irony could not be sharper: for COP30 in Brazil, about one hundred thousand trees were reportedly cleared to make way for the summit’s facilities. The very event meant to save the planet ended up harming it. The symbolism of that contradiction continues to haunt the COP process, and Ethiopia must be careful not to repeat that mistake.
There is also the question of cost. Hosting such a large event demands vast public spending, from security to transport to conference infrastructure. For a country where millions still live without stable access to electricity, healthcare, or clean water, the trade-off is real. Will Ethiopia’s citizens benefit from this summit, or will it remain an expensive spectacle meant for foreign dignitaries and media cameras? The government must ensure that improvements in public services and sustainable infrastructure outlast the conference itself.
The deeper concern lies in the credibility of these global climate summits. For years, they have been dominated by negotiation fatigue, watered-down pledges, and self-congratulation. Countries fly in private jets to promise emission cuts that rarely materialize. If COP32 is to avoid becoming another pageant of promises, Ethiopia must use its moment as host to push for concrete outcomes: real climate financing, accountability mechanisms, and stronger adaptation commitments for vulnerable nations. Hosting the event is not the achievement; shaping its results will be.
Ethiopia’s selection to host COP32 is both a reward and a test. It could mark a turning point where an African nation steers the climate conversation toward fairness and urgency. But it could also expose the hollow rituals that have come to define international climate diplomacy. The challenge for Ethiopia is not only to welcome the world but to remind it that saving the planet cannot come at the expense of the very environment we claim to protect.
