“We found that the appointments were not kept despite some efforts”, points out the President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall, Monday, November 7 on franceinfo, while world leaders are going to speak in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt), for the second day of COP27. One of the crucial questions of this event was added at the last moment, the “loss and damage” mechanism: financial aid from the rich and polluting countries, intended for the environmental policy of the poor countries, which are not very responsible for the global warming.
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franceinfo: In what way is this COP taking place in Africa special for you?
Macky Sall: We found that the appointments were not kept despite some efforts. Since 2020, the community had committed to putting in $100 billion a year, until 2030. We don’t have the first $100 billion yet. While Africa alone has a need estimated by the IPCC of 85 billion per year by 2030, to be able to meet the objectives of reducing the temperature of the planet to less than 1.5 degrees. This means that the time has come to put everyone’s responsibility on the table and to have a global collective awareness of it. Either we save the planet or it disappears with us.
Europe experienced a scorching summer, we compared certain temperatures to those experienced in Africa. Do you think that will help raise awareness?
I hope so, because no one is immune to climate change. […] It’s time for everyone to be aware. We need international solidarity. We are forced to go into debt to adapt, to be in low-carbon economies. This is not acceptable when we could have moved towards solutions such as coal, which is currently in progress in most industrialized countries since the war in Ukraine. If the money is not there, we will resort to the same energy sources for Africa’s development aspirations. We have over 600 million Africans who still do not have access to electricity. Go tell these people: ‘wait for the energy transition to be made’.
For years, rich countries have had their foot on the brakes on the question of the “loss and damage” mechanism. Do you hope to convince them this time?
We will convince them. I believe that if nothing is done, we will leave Sharm El-Sheikh feeling unfinished. Everyone will return with their national solutions which will consist in developing by all means and whatever it may cost the planet. It’s the risk. It is not only at the state level, but also at the corporate level that are primarily the biggest polluters. At this level, I call for collective awareness. Africans are making efforts.
“In Senegal, today we have 35% of the electricity that comes from renewable sources. We also got into debt to make electric trains and buses.”
Machy Sall, President of the Republic of Senegalat franceinfo
Do you also tell rich countries that if you are not helped, the migration issue will be increasingly important?
It is necessarily an argument. Because if you only have islands of prosperity in the world, in front of an overwhelming majority of poverty, nothing can stop the will to migrate. It is a natural phenomenon. So might as well diversify prosperity around the world […]that’s what can fix people. […] We don’t ask for handouts, we think it’s a shared responsibility. The countries which have been responsible for this warming for more than a century must realize that they must also make their contribution so that the whole planet does not follow the same path. Which would precipitate us towards certain destruction of the planet.