COP27 is a critical opportunity to put Africa’s priorities for tackling the climate crisis in the spotlight. Importantly, it is also a chance for others to step up and support Africa’s agenda. ECO particularly looks towards Europe building on its responsibilities as former colonisers, neighbours, and resource extractors. Faced with huge challenges of addressing energy poverty while securing a just transition away from fossil fuels in some countries, and leapfrogging fossil fuelled development altogether in others, Africa is a continent at a crossroads with two possible futures. Africa can become a clean energy leader with decentralised renewables powering a more inclusive society and a greener economy, or it can become a large polluter that is burdened with stranded assets and economic instability.
Africa’s situation deserves extraordinary attention as it is the continent least responsible for but most threatened by the climate crisis. Africa’s 1 billion citizens have contributed less than 1 per cent of the world’s cumulative greenhouse gas emissions but are facing huge adaptation challenges and increasing climate-driven losses and damages. ECO also wants to stress the importance of pursuing a sustainable development-centred approach to climate and energy goals, which respects African ownership, community, and civil society participation. Despite these challenges,Africa has expertise in adaptation and climate innovations, abundant renewable energy (RE) potential, a young and growing population that is ready to work, and goods and raw materials – especially the critical minerals needed for renewable energy technologies.
The energy sector is critical to enabling socio-economic development, tackling gender inequalities, addressing health challenges, and stimulating economic recovery. The energy cooperation between Europe and Africa should focus on (1) ending energy poverty through universal (decentralized) renewable energy access (including to clean cooking), (2) accelerating renewable energy financing and deployment, (3) powering key industries and sectors for Africa’s socio-economic transformation, and (4) maximizing energy efficiency.
Support to tackle these issues requires financing, complemented by technology transfer and capacity-building. Additional financing for Just Energy Transition Partnerships should focus on these priorities and cannot waste time and resources on euphemistically named ‘transition’ fuels (fossil gas) which will lock Africa into a slow and expensive build out of stranded assets.
The European Commission’s plan for energy security (REPowerEU) was released recently and includes boosting renewables and an energy savings plan. These are good steps, but insufficient to deliver energy security for all, and not sufficiently compatible with the Paris Agreement. However, the self-imposed imperative of moving away quickly from Russian fossil gas is leading to a rush into other gas imports from regions across the world, while also deploying plans for new LNG infrastructure at a speed never seen before.
EU Commissioners and some governments’ representatives have been seen travelling to African countries and are now prioritising investments into new gas purchases. But fossil gas must be kept in the ground to get the world on a 1.5°C pathway (and failing to do so will have particularly dire consequences in Africa). The EU’s plans could contribute to locking in developing and EU neighbouring countries to fossil fuels, sending a torn message leading up to COP27 in Egypt.
The EU should not achieve its emission reduction targets and energy security at the expense of outsourcing its energy transition to vulnerable countries, which face the biggest impacts of climate change and need support in switching to energy efficiency and renewable energy for their own domestic needs. Instead, the EU should more quickly reduce its reliance on fossil gas use overall and fulfil its obligations to massively increase support for its African neighbours by accelerating the financing and use of renewable energies, as envisaged in many African NDCs.