Private climate finance at a ‘tipping point’; leaders call for more ambitious commitments

The UN Secretary-General today called for every government, business, civil and international organization in the world to develop a transition plan to net-zero emissions, and boost ambition in finance and adaption as an equal priority to cutting emissions, and the only way to reach the 1.5C temperature goal.

 
Global leaders today presented bold climate ambition and urgent demands at the Climate Ambition Roundtable convened by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, capping a week of major announcements – including from China, the EU and many global businesses - that signal the tide is turning for climate action.
 
“All actors - governments, cities and companies, NGOs and international organizations need to have their own transition plans to net-zero before 2050,” said the Secretary-General.
 
To harness the growing momentum, the Roundtable also included the announcement of a virtual Climate Ambition Summit on the 5th Anniversary of the Paris Agreement on 12 December.
 
“The fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement on 12 December 2020, which will gather leaders from governments, business and civil society, will be an important moment to continue raising climate ambition.  I look forward to working closely on this event with the leaders of Chile, the United Kingdom, France and others to deliver increased ambition,” the Secretary-General said.
 
Global investors at ‘tipping point’
 
The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Finance Mark Carney said of private finance: "It's not just moving, it's moving fast”.
 
“The private financial sector is moving. We are at a tipping point. It is not just momentum. The decisiveness of your climate policies and the NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions), and the decisiveness of the action you take over the course of next year will allow the private sector to amplify and pull forward that adjustment in a virtuous cycle. That can help us achieve our goals.”
 
Special Envoy Carney also said there were calls from every major bank, the world’s largest insurers, biggest pension funds and top asset managers for the disclosure of climate-related financial information. He said this support is truly global, stemming from almost 60 countries and with a market cap of almost US$13 trillion and financial institutions responsible for assets of £150 trillion.
 
Major Economies
 
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EC’s proposal – announced just this week - to raise it ambition by cutting greenhouse gases by 55 per cent compared to 1990 levels by 2030, up from 40 per cent.  “It’s achievable,” she said and would require additional investments.  “We will raise the money,” she said of the EC’s proposal to issue 200 billion Euros of green bonds, and flagged greater EU cooperation with other nations and non-state actors.
 
Several leaders in the Roundtable said they were encouraged by China’s announcement this week it would become carbon neutral before 2060, and China’s signal that it would pursue concrete plans and policies to achieve this goal.
 
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said that Chile would phase out all coal-powered generation and electrify all its public transport by 2040.  President Pinera also stressed the importance of the Coalitions of Finance Ministers that Chile co-chairs in the work ahead. 
 
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy – incoming G20 chair - called on investors to divest from fossil fuels.  He, along with other leaders including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson stressed the need to put climate action and green jobs at the center of COVID recovery plans.
 
Through 2019 the Secretary-General has urged all governments to take six climate-positive actions to recover better from the pandemic that includes investing in jobs and green business, no bailouts to polluting industries, ending subsidies for fossil fuels, considering climate risks in all decisions and policy-making, working together and ensuring that no one is left behind.
 
Building resilience and a just transition
 
Leaders of small island countries – including Fiji Prime Minister Josaia Bainimarama, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne – along with leaders from least developed countries urged developed countries to step up efforts to strengthen resilience and adaptation.
 
Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou called on partners to step up their support efforts through the $440 billion Climate Investment Plan for the Sahel region that would benefit 67 million people. 
 
“To protect the planet and ourselves”, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said her country was building thousands of cyclone shelters and called for political leadership and international collaboration to limit the global temperature increase and deliver promised finance to vulnerable countries. She emphasized that the rehabilitation of climate refugees is a global responsibility.
 
Despite challenging economic and credit conditions due to COVID-19, the Roundtable reinforced the urgency of developed nations supporting developing nations, including through full delivery of the US$100 billion commitment for climate finance in the Paris Agreement.  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that more climate finance will be needed, which will require a massive reorientation of capital flows.’
 
Key civil society leaders – including Tasneem Essop of the Climate Action Network
and Laurence Tubiana of the European Climate Foundation - said the climate crisis and pandemic were combining to add to the suffering of the world’s most vulnerable people, who must be central in government’s recovery plans.  They noted the importance of eradicating poverty, improving access to healthcare, education, water and good jobs, consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals.  Ms. Tubiana stressed the importance of long-term climate strategies, and noted they can also underpin long-term business investment plans to drive sustainable recoveries
 
Dr. Vladimir Kattsov of the World Meteorological Organization’s Scientific Advisory Panel cited the importance of climate science as a powerful tool for adaptation efforts and decision-making, and urged governments to step up efforts to improve their data capabilities.
 
Chief Minister of Bihar State (India) Nitish Kumar stressed the key role of sub-national governments in achieving carbon neutrality, including by stepping up sustainable development efforts.
 
Private Sector leaders stepping up--urge government to do more
 
Several private sector leaders stepped up calls for governments to set more ambitious policy frameworks to speed the shift from the grey to the green economy, and showed how they are leading by example.
 
For example, Kahori Miyake Co-Chair of the Japan Climate Leaders Partnership said 150 Japanese businesses representing 48 terrawatts of energy use are moving towards net-zero emissions by 2050.She also said the Partnership was elevating its calls for Japan to boost renewables to 50 per cent of the energy mix by 2030.
 
Microsoft President Brad Smith said stepping up climate action and ambition made commercial sense, and that businesses with strong environmental and social frameworks had outperformed other businesses during the global pandemic. He discussed steps the US$1 trillion company is taking to deliver on its recent announcement to be carbon-negative by 2030.
 
Itaú Unibanco CEO, Candido Bracher, said three leading Brazilian private banks will launch a program to start reducing finance flowing to illegal deforestation and said the Brazilian finance sector can and must go further in its efforts.
 
Dinah McLeod, CEO of the Global Cement and Concrete Association - representing a sector producing 7 per cent of global emissions – said 40 cement companies have committed to carbon neutral concrete by 2050, and noted that concrete is the most used substance in the world after water. She called for greater collaboration between the industry and policymakers to promote concrete recycling and the use of alternative fuels in its production, among other actions to drive the transition.
 

Africa’s climate change fight gets a boost with Global Center on Adaptation regional sets up

African leaders have welcomed the opening of a regional office of the Global Center on Adaptation, voicing hopes it will spur the continent’s efforts to combat climate change.

In speeches marking the virtual launch of GCA Africa, the leaders said the Center could also provide an impetus for a more resilient recovery after COVID-19, which they said had compounded climate-induced vulnerabilities.

“In the post-COVID period, our objective should not only be to recover and build better but to do so in a climate-conscious way,” said Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde.

“There is no (more) stark reminder of the need for us to take urgent action than the devastating impact of climate change that we are witnessing now. We have no other option but to mobilize ourselves more than ever before to safeguard the planet. Time is not on our side,” Zewde noted.

Hosted by the African Development Bank at its headquarters in the Ivorian commercial capital, Abidjan, GCA Africa will work with partners across the continent to accelerate adaptation action that protects African communities from climate change.

Several regional and global leaders attended the high-level launch. Key speakers included the 8^th UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, co-chair of the Global Center on Adaptation, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo; Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group and Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of GCA.

There were also speeches by representatives from the African Union Commission, Dutch businessman and co-chair of the GCA Feike Sijbesma, United Nations Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed, Gabonese President Ali Bongo, who is also chairperson of the African Adaptation Initiative, Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development for Norway, and Peter Eriksson, Minister for International Development Cooperation for Sweden.

Welcoming the opening of GCA Africa, President Akufo-Addo expressed the hope that it will work to scale up the “bright spots” of adaptation on the continent, including Ghana, where development partners have kicked off a project to enhance the resilience of national infrastructure systems against threats of climate change.

“We look forward to working with GCA and its partners to meet the challenges of climate change and ensuring resilience is built into Africa’s economic recovery plans.”

President Kenyatta noted that the climate change challenge is no longer a projected crisis. “It’s indeed a reality that we need to control urgently,” he said, citing the incidence of El-Nino-triggered floods and droughts in parts of East Africa, which has also been hit by a locust invasion.

He commended the partnership between the Bank and the African Adaptation Initiative under the GCA. “I am optimistic that through this partnership Kenya and other African counties will attract more financing and other resources that we need to implement our various national adaptation plans.”

Opening the regional office, Adesina said the occasion marked a major milestone in the Bank’s drive to build climate resilience for Africa. Adesina, who began his second five-year term as Bank President this month, said one of his key priorities over the next five years is for the Bank to drive investments in green growth and climate finance for Africa.

“As a Bank, we are committed to helping Africa build back from the COVID-19 crisis, better, stronger and with greater health and climate resilience,” he said, adding that the Bank’s financing for climate had quadrupled, from 9% of its total portfolio in 2016 to 36% by 2019. “By the end of 2021, we will reach our target of 40% of the total portfolio.”

Also, the Bank has committed to providing $25 billion in climate financing by 2025, Adesina stated.

The GCA Africa programs include improving the food security of one billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 through a program on rural well-being and food security, as well as projects to support communities through water for urban growth and resilience; using nature for more resilient infrastructure; adaptation finance and building youth leadership.

Smarter collaboration critical to meet ambitious targets for a climate-resilient Africa

Experts at the 2020 Global Philanthropy Forum on Tuesday called for greater collaboration among funders to address the severe threat that climate change poses to Africa’s development.

Participants highlighted the critical role of innovative approaches to mobilizing climate adaptation finance in Africa, in a session titled Inclusive Green Economies - Harnessing Opportunities and Innovative Solutions for Investments in Climate-Resilient Development in Africa.

The virtual session, oranised by the African Development Bank, began with a call for sustainable ways for the continent to emerge stronger from the pandemic. The event was moderated by Emily Ojoo-Massawa. Senior Associate at the Global Climate Adaptation Partnership.

“The path to a sustainable COVID-19 recovery will therefore require investments that simultaneously tackle the pandemic and prevailing climate risks while offering attractive co-benefits,” said Al Hamndou Dorsouma, Manager of Climate and Green Growth at the Bank.

“The moment for adaptation has come. Interestingly, we have the attention of philanthropy, private sector and non-traditional investors, who want to invest in harnessing new opportunities in climate change adaptation,” said Arame Tall, Senior Adaptation and Resilience Specialist, Climate Change Group at the World Bank. “We need the ministries of finance to be involved in outlining adaptation investment opportunities in countries to better harness these opportunities, including clear investment and sectoral plans.” 

With less than 2% of philanthropic funding going to combat climate change, funders face a challenge. The solution is to collaborate more and in smarter ways in order to meet ambitious targets and rally support from all sectors, participants noted, drawing attention to the unprecedented challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Collaboration is important to lay a solid foundation to achieve a greener post-COVID future,” said Atsuko Toda, the African Development Bank’s Director for Agricultural Finance and Rural Infrastructure Development.

She called for a paradigm shift in adaptation financing, stressing the Bank’s willingness to work with partners to accelerate Africa’s adaptation.

In October 2018, the Bank’s Board of Directors approved a framework for the implementation of the Africa Disaster Risk Financing (ADRiFi) Programme, which offers regional member countries an opportunity to pool and transfer their climate-related risks by paying a sovereign insurance premium. “The payout is made immediately after a disaster happens,” Toda said. The Bank partners with the African Risk Capacity Insurance Company (ARC) to implement ADRiFi.

The COVID-19 crisis has underscored the urgency of building healthier, more inclusive and more resilient economies, the meeting heard.

Lesley Ndlovu, CEO of ARC, noted the need for countries to plan for exposures and build resilience. “At the African Risk Capacity, we work with countries to prepare them for the risk exposure they have and help them prepare for how to respond, including helping them to establish a rainy-day fund. We have also partnered with the African Development Bank for the Africa Disaster Risk Financing initiative and other financing instruments,” Ndlovu said.

“We need broader collaborations to solve the problem that our continent faces. The problem is so big that all of us have a role to play.”

Africa is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions, and the economic cost is high: as much as $15 billion in 2020, rising to potentially $50 billion by 2040, which is equivalent to 7% of the continent’s GDP.

Al Hamdou Doursouma noted that the Bank is on track to mobilize $25 billion between 2020 and 2025 to support investments in climate change.

In 2019, the African Development Bank prioritized adaptation finance, with 55% of its climate-focused financing invested in adaptation actions. The Bank’s adaptation finance rose from $500 million in 2012 to $2 billion in 2019, cumulatively representing $18.6 billion over this period.

World Bank sets ambitious targets for Green and resilient economic growth in Africa

The World Bank has released the Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan (NG-ACBP), which sets out a blueprint to help Sub-Saharan African economies achieve low carbon and climate-resilient outcomes.

 

The Plan calls for countries to seize the opportunity to scale-up climate resilience to grow their economies and reduce poverty, redouble efforts to increase energy access across the region, and take advantage of sustainable and innovative approaches to leapfrog into greener development pathways.  Without rapid deployment of inclusive, climate-informed development, 43 million additional people could be pushed below the poverty line by 2030 in Sub-Saharan Africa.

 

As the largest financier of climate action in Africa, the World Bank will use this new Climate Plan to build on a strong track record under the original plan in which the Bank supported 346 projects with more than US$33 billion in World Bank financing over the past six years.

 

“The climate challenge cuts across every priority – poverty reduction, agriculture, job creation, women’s empowerment, fragility, and more,” says Ousmane Diagana, World Bank Vice President for West and Central Africa. “Countries therefore have to tackle it in multiple ways, including by helping cities develop in clean ways, making climate smart agriculture practices the norm, improving clean, green, and affordable energy, and putting people and communities at the forefront in order to improve lives and protect the future.”

 

Over the next six years (2021–26), the World Bank will focus on five key areas in Africa—food security, clean energy, green and resilient cities, environmental stability, and climate shocks— that emphasize the interrelatedness of climate risks and opportunities. The Plan sets ambitious goals that push the boundaries of sustainable development in Africa, including training 10 million farmers on climate-smart agricultural approaches, expanding integrated landscape management over 60 million hectares in 20 countries, increasing renewable energy generation capacity from 28GW to 38GWto increase access to clean electricity, and outfitting at least 3O cities with low carbon and compact urban planning approaches.

 

“Africa’s main challenge is to adapt to climate change by investing in more resilient agriculture and food systems, building infrastructure that resists extreme weather events, protecting its coastal cities, and enhancing disaster preparedness systems,” says Hafez Ghanem, World Bank Vice President for East and Southern Africa. At the same time, green technologies provide an opportunity for growth and job creation.  This is especially true in the energy sector where renewables have become a source of clean and inexpensive energy, bringing the goal of universal access to electricity within reach.”

 

The World Bank recommends that Sub-Saharan African countries enact policy reforms that recognize the realities of climate change, in order to strengthen recovery and promote long-term growth. This includes addressing the sizable infrastructure gap in a green and resilient manner, using less carbon-intensive materials and technologies while creating more competitive job opportunities.

 

The development of the Plan was led by Kanta Kumari Rigaud, Lead Environment Specialist Rigaud, who underscores that ramping up climate action on both the resilience and clean energy fronts is critical to address climate change and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, as the window of opportunity to counter the climate crisis is rapidly narrowing.

 

This Plan will be rolled out amid the COVID-19 pandemic, recognizing that climate action and green recovery will be key priorities as countries work to build back better from one of the biggest setbacks in the region’s development in the last 25 years.

 

 

New Zealand becomes first country in the world to require financial sector to report on climate risks

New Zealand has become the first country in the world to require the financial sector to report on climate risks.  

350 Aotearoa was among a majority of submitters that called on the government to introduce mandatory climate-related disclosure during its public consultation period in 2019.

350 Aotearoa Co-Director Erica Finnie said “mandatory disclosure is a good first step to steer businesses and public funds away from unsustainable and risky investments in fossil fuel companies that are most responsible for climate change. It will also grow the social and political landscape for climate advocacy groups and the government to keep pushing our finance sector to cut their ties with coal, oil, and gas companies.”

The government’s announcement sets a regulatory framework by which our financial sector will need to disclose their risks – including investments in coal, oil, and gas companies that are increasingly underperforming based on sector decline and the financial risk of stranded assets.

Over five years, while the S&P 500 Index rose by 48%, the S&P Oil & Gas Index fell by 63% and the Coal Index by 84%.

Finnie said “The financial sector plays a vital role in determining whether we can stop the worst impacts of climate change. The sector is currently keeping the world’s biggest polluters afloat by investing in and lending to coal, oil, and gas companies. Our major banks, asset managers and public funds have the power to accelerate a just transition towards a low-carbon future by stopping the flow of money that enables fossil fuel companies to keep polluting, and instead shift our money towards sustainable solutions that will enable us to mitigate and adapt to climate change.”

“The climate risk disclosure framework will set apart those institutions that have already committed to stop investing in and lending to fossil fuels, from those that continue to gamble with our savings and our ability to limit warming to 1.5°C,” said Finnie.

In July 2020, after years of public pressure from 350 Aotearoa, Kiwibank became the first bank in Aotearoa to commit to a responsible banking policy that rules out coal, oil, and gas companies as business customers. In comparison, the Australian banking groups that own our major banks ASB, ANZ, BNZ, and Westpac have collectively loaned over AUD $35.5 billion to coal, oil and gas companies since 2016. 

“Since 2013, 350 Aotearoa has been coordinating campaigns across Aotearoa, led by grassroots communities, and we have successfully pushed for major institutions including city councils, universities, faith organisations, and banks to divest from fossil fuels. This has been part of the global divestment movement which has shifted over $14 trillion assets under management away from oil, coal, and gas companies. It’s time for the rest of the financial sector to follow suit,” said Finnie.

Climate change has not stopped for Covid-19

Climate change has not stopped for COVID19. Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are at record levels and continue to increase. Emissions are heading in the direction of pre-pandemic levels following a temporary decline caused by the lockdown and economic slowdown. The world is set to see its warmest five years on record – in a trend which is likely to continue – and is not on track to meet agreed targets to keep global temperature increase well below 2 °C or at 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.
 
This is according to a new multi-agency report from leading science organizations, United in Science 2020. It highlights the increasing and irreversible impacts of climate change, which affects glaciers, oceans, nature, economies and human living conditions and is often felt through water-related hazards like drought or flooding. It also documents how COVID-19 has impeded our ability to monitor these changes through the global observing system.
 
“This has been an unprecedented year for people and planet. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives worldwide. At the same time, the heating of our planet and climate disruption has continued apace,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a foreword.
 
“Never before has it been so clear that we need long-term, inclusive, clean transitions to tackle the climate crisis and achieve sustainable development. We must turn the recovery from the pandemic into a real opportunity to build a better future,” said Mr Guterres, who will present the report on 9 September. “We need science, solidarity and solutions.” 
 
The United in Science 2020 report, the second in a series, is coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), with input from the Global Carbon Project, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, the UN Environment Programme and the UK Met Office. It presents the very latest scientific data and findings related to climate change to inform global policy and action.
 
“Greenhouse gas concentrations - which are already at their highest levels in 3 million years - have continued to rise. Meanwhile, large swathes of Siberia have seen a prolonged and remarkable heatwave during the first half of 2020, which would have been very unlikely without anthropogenic climate change. And now 2016–2020 is set to be the warmest five-year period on record. This report shows that whilst many aspects of our lives have been disrupted in 2020, climate change has continued unabated,” said WMO Secretary-General, Professor Petteri Taalas. 
 

Ghana pushes ahead with efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation, forest degradation

The Government of Ghana has received an advance payment of US$1.3 million out of a US$50 million agreement with the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility for results-based payments for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (known as REDD+).

The provision of this advance payment was included in the program contract, which was signed last year.

The funds will be used for the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Program (GCFRP), focused on cocoa forest mosaic landscapes in seven regions within the high forest zone. This emission reductions program is anchored in the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

As part of the program’s agreed plan, the advance payment will be received by the Forestry Commission, which houses the National REDD+ Secretariat, and will fund activities such as livelihood support, trainings, reforestation and enrichment planting in the program areas, multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral engagement, and essential program coordination costs.

The financing is especially timely, given the current COVID-19 situation, for Ghana to maintain momentum with this initiative and to ‘build back greener.’

“This program is an important vehicle for the effective and successful implementation of both government and private sector commitments under the Cocoa and Forests Initiative, which together feed into the overall forest sector contributions for Ghana’s international climate targets. This advance payment is vital to catalyze the program’s implementation efforts,” said Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, Ghana’s Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.

“This emission reductions program is a unique public-private partnership between cocoa companies, traditional authorities, farmers, community members, the Ghana Cocoa Board and the Forestry Commission amongst others. It represents a pilot model for sustainable sourcing of cocoa in rapidly growing economies, while reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and creating alternative and additional livelihoods. The Forestry Commission is therefore rallying the support of all stakeholders and beneficiaries to achieve successful implementation,” said Mr. John M. Allotey, Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission.

The program area, which spans nearly 6 million hectares, is home to 12 million people and includes 1.2 million hectares of forest reserves and national parks. The program will promote several environmental benefits such as preventing soil erosion and protecting water resources through sustainable land management practices.

It will reduce further deforestation of natural forests and improve carbon sequestration through shade cocoa rehabilitation, enrichment planting and intercropping. It will also support social benefits that provide farmers and community members with potential additional income on a sustainable basis, and plantation activities like nursery operations, planting, forest management and protection which will increase employment opportunities. During the six year lifetime of the GCFRP, as the results-based payments for verified emissions begin to flow to Ghana, they will serve as an ongoing incentive for the diverse stakeholders participating in this program and will be shared in accordance with the inclusive benefit sharing plan.

Stakeholder engagement around implementation is critical for the success of the program. Building on the support provided by the advance funding, results-based payments for emission reductions will be made after rigorous third-party verification. Ghana has finalized the methodology for monitoring deforestation and is in the process of preparing its monitoring report for the first independent verification, expected to take place in 2021.

“The GCFRP positions Ghana to be amongst the first countries globally to demonstrate how improved governance, inclusive participation, collaborative forest resources management and sound agro-forestry practices in a commodity-driven landscape can work together to deliver real, verifiable and ambitious climate action whilst building ecosystem and livelihood resilience,” said Ms. Roselyn Fosuah Adjei, Director for Climate Change and REDD+ National Focal Point at the Forestry Commission.

“The advance payment can serve as catalyst for Ghana’s further progress in conserving forests and reducing emissions,” said Ms. Agata Pawlowska, the World Bank’s Operations Manager in Ghana. “We are confident that Ghana will continue to liaise with stakeholders and the private sector in this unique program which will support more sustainable cocoa production, increased incomes for cocoa farmers and climate co-benefits through minimizing its deforestation and forest degradation footprint.”  

 

African CSOs on climate change condemn Big Oil plans to ‘Flood Africa with Plastics’

Faced with plunging profits and a climate crisis that threatens fossil fuels, Big Oil is demanding a trade deal that weakens Kenya’s rules on plastics and on imports of American trash.  

African civil society on climate change, under the umbrella of the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), is shocked by the revelations and has condemned in the strongest terms possible any such manoeuvres, and any deliberate attempt to reverse gains achieved to defeat plastics in the world.

A statement signed by Mithika Mwenda, Executive Director of PACJA, said the plan to “flood Africa with plastics” is diabolic and therefore wants the oil companies and allied governments behind this endeavour to be shamed and stopped.

The Alliance has outlined five points of action:

1. The Kenyan Government, with immediate effect, to cease, and resist any attempt by the American trade delegation to manipulate the Kenyan delegation to allow a treaty that results to plastic dumping in the country.

 

2. African people everywhere to rise and reject any trade deals and other plans that will treat their streets and communities as a dumping ground for US waste. Africa already receives millions of tons of waste from western countries annually. The World Bank estimates that by 2050, waste generated in Sub-Saharan Africa will triple.

 

Right now, 80-90 per cent of plastics waste is inadequately disposed of in many countries across Africa and pose threats to rivers and oceans. Waste mismanagement, which is projected to increase on the continent, and the additional burden of plastics imports will create conditions where both people and nature are unable to thrive. We cannot let this happen.

 

3. African governments stay on a decarbonized, plastics-free, and sustainable growth pathway that puts the welfare of citizens and nature first. At least 30 African countries have either totally or partially banned plastics bags, and the continent leads the world in plastics regulation. The Alliance and its partners had played a key role in lobbying governments to pass these regulations and we cannot allow a reversal of these advances now. Furthermore, the continent is already grappling with the challenges of climate change that have resulted from the burning of fossil fuels and cannot take anymore thrash from the same companies that have caused so much harm already.

 

4. The US government to be transparent in all trade negotiations with African countries, especially Kenya. We note with great concerns that the leadership of the United States has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, even though the US contributes 18% of the total global emissions. It is, therefore, both wicked and immoral for the US government and its corporate interests to pursue actions likely to cause further havoc and exacerbate existing environmental crises in African countries. The adaptation needs in Africa are huge and a high priority for the continent, which the US government should support through continued investments in healthcare, sustainable food systems, water, infrastructure, among others. Any business deals between the US and African governments must revolve around these difficult issues.

 

5. Big Oil investors to begin redeeming themselves by redirecting their resources towards supporting decarbonized growth in Africa through investments in renewable energy uptake and access. Fossils fuels account for nearly 90% of global emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which with other greenhouse gasses, is responsible for climate change.

 

Despite contributing only 4% to global emissions, Africa is among the most vulnerable regions to the impacts of climate change and the least capable to either adapt or contribute to mitigating it. With a weak energy infrastructure and the lowest levels of energy access in the world, Africa presents great opportunities for energy innovation. Estimates of clean power generation potential in the continent are 350 GW for hydroelectric, 110 GW for wind, 15 GW for geothermal and a staggering 1000 GW for solar. Big Oil investors should support strides towards an Africa powered by renewable energy and not work to hamper or reverse them.

 

PACJA and the African civil society say they are closely monitoring this very unfortunate development and will not relent in holding all parties accountable for any trade deals that put the African people and environment in harm's way.