Africa is committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions but it needs more money and time to move away from fossil fuels without jeopardizing its economic development, various African officials reminded this week during meetings. you international. Officials from Ghana, South Africa and the African Union have said at energy conferences this week that the continent is not ready to give up coal, oil and gas.
“Africa is fully convinced and committed to net zero and supports the climate agenda, but where we diverge is on the timetable”
Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Energy of the African Union (AU)at AFP
Africa’s population of 1.3 billion is set to double by 2050, and AU countries aim to make affordable and reliable energy available to all by 2050. to 2063, she noted. Financing Africa’s ecological transition is likely to be one of the main hot spots at November’s COP27 in Cairo. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, rich nations have an obligation to help developing countries reduce their emissions as part of global efforts to fight global warming. But they have so far not honored their commitments. Ghana’s deputy energy minister, Mohammed Amin Adam, said international investments in green energy in Africa were “still appalling”accounting for only about 2% of the global total.
African countries will also need to secure funding for oil and gas projects at COP27, as fossil fuel revenues are needed to finance climate adaptation measures. According to the Ghanaian official, most African oil and gas producers derive the bulk of their export earnings from these fuels, he pointed out.
“If we give up on this, how can we even fund our ability to adapt to the effects of the climate? We won’t be able to. Unless we have a substitute for our income”
Mohammed Amin Adam, Ghanaian Deputy Minister of Energyat AFP
African countries are among the most exposed to the effects of climate change, including worsening droughts and floods, but they are only responsible for around 3% of global CO2 emissions, the former secretary recalled in September. United Nations General Ban Ki-moon.
The DRC’s Minister of the Environment, Eve Bazaïba, recalls that her country will find it increasingly difficult to choose between the fight against “extreme poverty” and “the heavy bill to pay for adaptation to climate change”if the industrialized countries do not offer it “substantial technological and financial alternatives”.
“We need oxygen, we also need bread”
Eve Bazaïba, Minister of the Environment of the DRCSpeech at the Kinshasa pre-COP 27
Speaking at an event as part of Africa Oil Week in Cape Town, South African Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said it was not in the country’s interest to abandon coal too quickly, because it would hurt the economy and cost thousands of jobs. South Africa is the main producer and consumer of coal on the continent, but also one of the twelve biggest polluters in the world. Last year, the government secured $8.5 billion in loans and grants from a group of wealthy countries to fund the transition to greener solutions. But the deal is on hold, amid tense negotiations with donor countries over how the money should be spent.