By Michael Igoe
In the 1st November 2021 article, Devex Newswire elaborates on Africa’s energy-climate conundrum. This should address not only the sub-Saharan countries but should also include all those countries of the MENA region, especially those without any fossil fuels resources. Climate change is a major threat to people’s and countries’ future prosperity, and it has by now been felt and/or sensed by all regardless of the varying levels of development.
In the COP23 in Bonn, Germany on November 6 to 17, 2017, an analysis addressing the strategic components of the necessary energy transition for Africa was published. It would be worth it to look at it again. After of course going through Michael Igoe‘s thoughts
Devex Newswire: Africa’s energy-climate conundrum
By Michael Igoe
COP 26 is officially underway in Glasgow. On a long list of thorny questions is this one: Should lower-income countries be denied access to fossil fuels even while wealthier countries continue to exploit them?
Europe and the United States have led a charge at the World Bank to end the institution’s support for fossil fuel projects while their own economies continue to rely heavily on polluting energy sources.
That disparity has fueled a growing debate over how financial institutions and development strategies should maintain a role for fossil fuels — particularly natural gas — as they look to balance climate mitigation and energy access goals. The debate comes to a particular head in Africa, where nearly 600 million people still lack access to energy, Adva Saldinger reports.
“The idea that in the West, gas is part of energy security, but a climate problem in Africa, is an ethically and politically untenable position,” says Todd Moss, executive director of the Energy for Growth Hub.
The question of how to balance these two imperatives — climate and energy — is a key sticking point in the conversation about what constitutes a “just transition” to low-carbon economies. The impacts of climate change continue to mount, particularly in the same countries where energy access remains limited and which have contributed least to global emissions.
The challenge facing delegates at COP 26 is to offer a collective vision for remaking the global energy system that combines a commitment to fairness with the resources and policies to achieve it.
Read more in the original Devex publication.
