Addressing Africa’s dual challenges: Climate change and electricity access – New African Magazine

As Africa tries to close the energy access gap, developed countries can’t continue to apply double standards to fuels to Africa. Jeanine Mabunda Lioko.

Late last year, leaders at the U.N. agreed to this. Climate Change Conference (COP26), Glasgow, stated that if the world does not come together to address the impending effects of climate change, Africa will face drought, rising sea levels and potential conflicts over water access.

The historical context of emissions must be included in the global response to climate changes. As is well known, the United States, Europe, and China are the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Prioritizing the transition towards renewables and imposing higher emission requirements on the EU and the U.S. will ease the burden for those countries that still require various power generation methods to increase energy accessibility.

Africa is the continent with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions. However, the Congo Basin forests, second only to the Amazon, are vital for absorbing CO2 from other continents. Conserving the world’s lungs must be more important than cutting them down. To combat global climate change, it is vital to preserve these natural resources. This requires external support that can properly value and encourage their preservation.

Access to electricity is another major problem. Today, almost 600 million people live in the 1.2 billion Africans lack access to electric power. In sub-Saharan Africa, 12 million new people enter the workforce every year. Our prosperity is dependent on ensuring economic growth and providing enough employment opportunities for our growing populations. It is not possible to do this in the dark. We will be vulnerable to instability, high unemployment, underdevelopment, and a crisis of migration if we don’t have universal access to electricity. These issues are both interrelated and threaten the region. If we want our continent to prosper and be peaceful, we need to find a way of solving them both.

Africa must use a variety power sources that are already used by the U.S., EU and China to reduce the energy access gap. At the same time, it must phase out coal. This requires the mobilization of development financing to support natural and hydro-, geothermal, wind, and solar energy projects.

Importantly, COP 26 was a full display of the double standard for countries in the Global North who have universal access to energy. For example, EU climate chief Frans Timmermans said, “[The European Union]will need to invest in natural gas infrastructure. If we only do this for a limited time, it will be fine. I think this is a justified investment.” The EU and U.S., who control significant voting stakes in the largest international financial institutions (IFIs), then led a pledge by 20 countries to stop financing gas projects abroad. African nations will struggle to maintain and build the infrastructure needed to use our natural gas if they don’t receive support from IFIs. This sharp contrast in words and actions sends the message that natural gas is considered a bridge to renewables in the Global North—where access to electricity is secure—while natural gas is an unnecessary luxury to Africans who still do not have access to reliable electricity.

The green economic revolution must be embraced by African nations. The global transition to renewable energy will mean exponentially scaling up the production of batteries, electric vehicles, and other renewable energy systems, which depend on Africa’s natural resources. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is an example. 70 percent of the world’s cobalt, the mineral vital to battery production. It is not possible that cobalt miners, who provide the raw material for the energy transition, will return to their homes without electricity. We must leverage our market power to improve working conditions, shift from raw material exports to manufacturing and processing capacity, and take more green energy supply chain shares. We cannot afford to make the same mistakes as previous economic revolutions.

Jeanine Mabunda Lioko, Member of Parliament for Bumba (DRC) and Former President of the National Assembly of the DRC

This article originally appeared on the Foresight Africa 2022Report and is reproduced with permission.