The organization
wants all partners to champion the cause of a truly African-led and
people-centred approach to renewable energy on the continent.
Below is the content of the
petition:
We, the
undersigned representatives of African civil society, express our deep concern
regarding efforts by the European Union and France to hijack the Africa
Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI), an African-owned and African-led initiative
endorsed by all 55 African Heads of State to scale up renewable energy on our
continent.
AREI was
launched by the African governments with the support of African citizens during
COP21 in Paris, with the goal to provide at least 10 billion watts (10GW) of
new and additional renewable energy to Africa’s peoples by 2020, and put the
continent on course to add at least another 300 GW and achieve universal access
to energy for all Africans by 2030. It was supported by $10 billion in
pledges for 2015-2020 by developed countries in Paris.
AREI as
defined in its framework, principles and work plans is a unique initiative. It
is aligned with our values of people-centred approaches, community rights,
equity and a bold vision of Africa taking a global lead towards flourishing
societies powered by clean, renewable energy.
Since
Paris, an Independent Delivery Unit was set up to deliver in accordance with
AREI’s people-centred principles and approaches. The expectation was that a
Board with Heads of State representing each African sub-region would be
established, supported by a technical committee involving broad representation
and participation by civil society
AREI’s
integrity and promise of bringing light and energy to Africa’s people is now
being gravely threatened by the efforts of the European Union and France for
premature, undue approval of ‘their’ projects and seeming attempts to co-opt
the initiative to serve their ends, supported by a small handful of
Africans. At a Board Meeting convened in Conakry on 4 March, we
understand the European Union and France have:
· Publicly “announced the preparation
of 19 new renewable energy projects, with a total potential investment of €4.8
billion” (EU press release 4 March) – when they are actually claiming to
provide a mere 1/16th or €0.3 billion of this amount, not all of which is for
“new projects” or even for “renewable energy”, and with no clarity whether any
of these are “additional’” efforts.
· Managed to have rammed through the
Board for adoption these partly EU-funded projects, despite the express
objections from some African countries and institutions, and contrary to the
principles of African ownership that would expect project priorities and
proposals to stem directly from African countries
· Ignored and bypassed AREI’s own
evaluation process in accordance to its criteria – developed with African and
northern government, civil society and other stakeholder inputs. These require
all projects be assessed in line with AREI social, environmental, gender and
other principles and safeguards before any approvals can be made
· Claiming Board memberships when they
seem to have only been invited to the meetings (AREI minutes of the first
inaugural board on 29 January) and contrary to the idea there should be one
developing and one developed non-African country in the Board.
· Pushed for the imposition of EU
technical experts to supposedly take control of AREI core documents to be
consistent with European interests
All the
above seems to have caused the Head of the Independent Delivery Unit, a
prominent and well-respected African, to declare his resignation.
These
actions have been enabled by one or two African states while the interests of
the majority of States, and of Africans, have been set aside.
PACJA has called for all partners in government,
academia, faith-based, labour, gender, environmental, community-based
organizations, national coalitions and regional and international networks to
join us in championing a truly African-led and people-centred approach to
renewable energy on our continent. AREI needs to succeed.
Click the
link below and support the petition.
No comments:
Post a Comment