Don’t gas Africa: Africa at risk of following EU’s dangerous fossil gas push

Campaigners have warned that Africa is in danger of locking the continent into fossil fuels for decades to come with leaders considering a new position that would prioritize fossil gas and nuclear over cleaner, cheaper, renewables. 

 

A technical committee of the African Union – made up of energy, not climate ministers – has recently proposed an “African Common Position on Energy Access and Transition”. This position centers on fossil gas and nuclear energy, at the expense of renewables, and is proposed for adoption by African Heads of State and launched at COP27. 

 

This comes on the back of the European Union’s recent vote in favor of a new rule that will consider fossil gas and nuclear projects “green,” making them eligible for lost-cost loans and subsidies, and their scramble for Africa’s energy resources. 

 

Together these would clear the way for the COP27 climate talks in Egypt to announce a massive effort to scale up fossil gas production in Africa, distracting from the clear need for renewables, locking the continent into fossil fuels for decades to come, while also shifting dangerous nuclear technologies that Europeans don’t want onto African soil. 

 

Campaigners are concerned that the position will fail to achieve its own objectives of ensuring energy access and transition.

 

“Africa is blessed with an abundance of wind, solar and other clean renewable energies. African leaders should be maximizing this potential and harnessing the abundant wind and sun which will help boost energy access and tackle climate change. What Africa does not need is to be shackled with expensive fossil fuel infrastructure which will be obsolete in a few years as the climate crisis worsens,” said Mohamed Adow, Director of Power Shift Africa. 

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He added “It would be a shameful betrayal of African people, already on the front line of the climate crisis, if African leaders use this November’s COP27 climate summit on African soil to lock Africa into a fossil fuel based future. Africa does not need the dirty energy of the past, it needs forward looking leadership that can take advantage of the clean energy of the present and future.”

 

The campaigners have also expressed concerns that it could have drastic consequences for Africa’s future prosperity, locking in massive stranded asset risk, damaging development prospects, while prioritising exports to Europe and the Global North.

 

It could also damage the credibility of COP27 and the viability of global climate goals as set out in the Paris Agreement. Their concerns are set out in an African Energy Access and Transition Memorandum

 

“As a concerned African citizen, it is totally unacceptable for African leaders to prioritize gas while millions hardest hit by the unfolding climate crisis are struggling to adapt to the devastating realities of climate change,” said Charity Migwi, Africa Regional Campaigner at 350.org.

 

The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned in 2020 that there is no room for new fossil fuels. The development of gas would not only lock African nations into fossil fuel production but would also undermine any plans to rapidly cut greenhouse gas emissions in a bid to keep global temperatures under 1.5 degrees Celsius, in order to avert even more catastrophic climate impacts.

 

“African leaders must instead support sustainable sources of renewable energy for the communities in developing countries for the good of humanity and the planet,” said Charity. 

 

New media initiative to amplify the African climate narrative

In November and December 2022, the world would gather, once again, in Egypt for yet another round of climate change negotiations.

 

The 27^th Conference of Parties (COP27) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been dubbed the “African COP”, with the hope that the critical concerns of the continent on the phenomenon of climate change will be prioritized at the talks.

 

Already, the last conference in Glasgow (COP26) could not meet the aspirations of Africa, especially in delivery aspirations in climate adaptation finance and recognizing the special needs and circumstances of Africa.

 

“The Special Needs and Circumstances for Africa must be recognized, not because Africa is special but because Africa is the most climate vulnerable and science agrees to that,” says Keriako Tobiko, Kenya’s Environment and forest Cabinet Secretary.

 

This interest is emphasized by the Chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), Ephraim Mwepya Shitima, who says the first priority at COP27 should be on the special needs and circumstances of Africa.

 

For him, the Conference should move away from ‘business as usual’ because Africa “cannot afford to be academic about the needs of Africa at COP27”.

 

The climate crisis is impactful on the continent, yet the African voice on the global climate negotiations continues to be low.

 

For the continent to be heard, Mr. Tobiko expects scientists, political leaders, media and other interest groups to work together.

 

He observed the agenda for COP27 will not be achieved “unless we plan ourselves and work together, strategize and speak in one voice”.

 

Amplifying the Africa Climate Story

 

According to the United Nations, increasing temperatures and sea levels, changing precipitation patterns and more extreme weather are threatening human health and safety, food and water security and socio-economic development in Africa.

 

Although Africa is responsible for only 0.5% of historical emissions and less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, studies show that the continent is considered the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

 

Floods and droughts, the main drivers of climate change in Africa, have increased, at times causing conflicts among different communities across the continent. These phenomena have destroyed millions of lives and livelihoods especially among smallholder farmers on the continent.  

 

Media plays an important role in understanding and acting on climate issues. However, majority of journalists in Africa lack capacity and resources to report on climate change.

 

The Africa Climate Story Media Initiative (ACSMI) has been launched in Nairobi, Kenya, with the aims of bridging this gap by providing support and enhancing capacity for journalists to consistently tell Africa’s climate story through an African lens, building in experiences and voices from communities affected by the climate crisis.

 

“The goal will be to amplify Africa’s voice on climate ahead of the UN climate summit COP 27 in Egypt and beyond,” said veteran journalist, Joseph Warungu, whose organization, AfricaonAir, is partnering the Pan African Media Alliance for Climate Change (PAMACC) to implement the initiative.

 

Mr. Warungu entreated journalists to engage in collaborations to better tell the bigger African climate story.

 

PAMACC Coordinator, Isaiah Esipisu, said under the initiative, “journalists will submit pitches for stories whose quality will be assessed and selected for support to develop and publish through an editorial review process”.

 

Themes under coverage will include adaptation, adaptation finance, agriculture, food security, energy access and just transition, loss and damage, early warning systems, development co-benefits, COP 27.

 

As part of the launch of the ACSMI, selected African journalists and experts have been meeting in Nairobi to help shape their skills and collaboration in telling the African climate story.

 

Participants are also visiting Kenya’s largest renewable energy plants in Olkaria.

by Kofi Adu Domfeh