In celebration of Africa Day, thousands of people across the continent took a stand to fuel the fossil-free movement and turn the volume up on ambitious climate action. They called on local and national leaders to commit to building a just and sustainable Africa that puts people and justice before profits.
Concern for lack of accountability
A climate activist, Richard Worthington, explained that there is a lack of accountability amongst institutions such as the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) in the way that they communicate.
“So rather than saying we are doing stuff that is low-carbon – what does low-carbon mean, what are the parameters. We would like to see quantified benchmarks when it says low-carbon, and to get proactive communication of what it means to be consistent with the Paris Agreement of 1.5˚C.”
On 25 May 1963, thirty African nations came together and founded the Organisation of African Unity – now the African Union – with the aim to decolonise African colonial nations, including South Africa. Now, over fifty years later, in the same week as Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidential inauguration and South Africa’s Carbon Tax Act being signed into law, Africans stand together in solidarity once more to show their determination to free themselves from the oppressive and exploitative age of fossil fuels.
On 24 May, a declared Global Climate Strike day and the eve of Africa Day, African Climate Reality Project and 350Africa.org took the fossil-free movement to the African Development Bank Group offices (AfDB) in South Africa to deliver the zero Emissions|Omissions petition.
350Africa.org Campaigner Ahmed Mokgopo, claimed that the AfDB is the second least transformational Multilateral Development Bank (MDB). Mokgopo added that they need to become more proactive in supporting the resilience of African countries by no longer investing fossil fuels.
“The AfDB has been sluggish in aligning its financial flows to the Paris Climate Agreement according to E3G’s May 2018 report on 6 major Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), including the World Bank.”
African Development Bank Group Regional Operations Manager, Farai Kanonda, explained that the company has focused on low-carbon developments and has not used coal-fired generation since 2015.
Kanonda added that the African Development Bank Group has aligned itself with the view of coal has changed the way things have been done in the last two or three years.
“A good example is at one point we were looking at the transaction regarding Thabametsi, but we never got to the investment stage. So I think we are very much aligned with the need for renewable energy. We are pushing the renewable energy agenda as much as we can and our financing over the last three years despite policy saying otherwise we have not done any coal funding, and I don’t see us doing anything going forward.”
Zero Emissions|Omissions, a coalition campaign led by African Climate Reality Project, calls on the African Development Bank Group to publicly commit to 100% renewable energy investments in the Bank’s power lending portfolio. Additionally, the call is also for an improvement in the Bank’s transparency policies around Disclosure and Access to Information, Operational Management and Carbon Pricing, the Energy Efficiency Strategy, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting at the project and portfolio level.
Concern about investment in fossil fuels
A Branch Manager at African Climate Reality Project, Gillian Hamilton, said that they are concerned about the investments that go into fossil fuels.
“We are very concerned about the investments that keep happening into fossil fuels in Africa. There has been investment from the African Development Bank into renewable energies and climate finance and we recognise that but on the other hand, we see that there are still investments going into fossil fuel finance.”
Hamilton added that for development in Africa to be possible, the mistakes of the West.
“We believe in development for Africa, but it’s about how we go about doing it and avoiding making the same mistakes as the West has done. We would like the Bank to use its power to move the funding forward for sustainable, targeted, low-carbon development.”
As the least responsible, and yet most vulnerable to climate change, Africa must follow the Climate Vulnerable Forum pledge made by 16 African governments to accelerate the transition towards an economy powered by 100% renewable energy. Climate change is no longer some future, looming threat – and it becomes the responsibility of Africa’s governments and public institutions, like the African Development Bank Group, to lead the world by example towards a demonstrable and marked reduction in emissions.
The petition handover does not mark the end of Zero Emissions|Omissions. It is rather an opportunity to show the African Development Bank Group that already there are thousands of Africans and people from around the globe that believe they can do more to support Africa in leapfrogging towards new and clean energy sources of the 21st century – for our climate, our health, and a just and sustainable future.