Africa is ready to step up on climate change, but it needs partners

SA’s latest electricity crisis is a timely reminder that the transition to clean energy must be just, fair and equitable. A reminder that such a transition must address both the warming climate as well as the energy needs of developing economies.

A reminder that, even as more and more African advocates, businesses and governments show their willingness to step up climate action, partnership and access to financing have never been more essential. 

Over the past few years, the pressure on governments and business to accelerate the shift to clean and renewable energy has not been limited to those in the industrialised West. 

Young people across the continent, such as the inspiring Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, have taken to the streets demanding that business and political leaders redouble action on climate change. 

That the cries for help have grown louder is no surprise given that many of the continent’s most vulnerable societies move closer to climate calamity with every passing day.

From floods in KwaZulu-Natal, to droughts in Somalia and the impact of shifting weather patterns on Kenyan farming towns, climate change has well and truly arrived. And the worst is yet to come.

In response, many African businesses and governments have begun to make unprecedented commitments to curb emissions and address the already devastating toll of climate change.

For example, last night, at the Global Citizen Festival in Accra, Harith General Partners announced its intention to sign onto the UN-backed  Race to Zero campaign and set science-based targets (SBTs) for emission reduction. 

SBTs are different to the net-zero pledges made by many carbon-intensive companies in that they require businesses to make actual reductions in emissions and any carbon offset must be additional to this, not a substitute for action.

They must be verified by the SBT Initiative and companies going through the process benefit from detailed feedback and support from the initiative’s technical experts.

Yet, African businesses and governments need partnership, patience, support and access to affordable financing if we, as a collective society, are to deliver on the global goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 without sacrificing the development and economic aspirations of Africa’s 1.2-billion people.

This is at the heart of what a just and fair clean energy transition is all about.

Not all parts of the world are starting from the same position and so it is only reasonable that the pace of action ought to play out differently.

The West — having had the benefit of almost two centuries of fossil-fuel-powered industrialisation — can make the shift to clean energy more quickly and cheaply than other parts of the world.

The faster that the US and Europe can move, the more time developing countries will be afforded to transition with the least amount of social and economic upheaval. The recent passage of ambitious climate legislation in the US is a step in the right direction.

Equally, it needs to be remembered that many developing nations, and Africa in particular, are gifted with the natural resources that have traditionally been the bedrock on which many industries, employment and towns were built. 

The economic and social impact of a just transition must be as real, sustainable and resilient as possible.

For the continent, a just transition means giving African countries flexibility to ensure that action on climate change goes hand-in-hand with addressing energy poverty for the more than 600-million who still do not have access to reliable electricity.

The South African government, for its part, has committed to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2035, while agreeing to significantly ramp up investments in renewable energy.

A just transition holds the promise to unleash a wave of green jobs, including jobs for workers and communities currently linked to the coal value chain. And it will allow countries to leapfrog traditional technologies, in the same way so much of Africa leapfrogged landlines and went straight to the mobile phone.

However, failure to get this transition right will both disrupt people’s lives and undermine support for climate action, even as the continent experiences climate impacts ever more frequently.

Along with proportional burden-sharing based on historic responsibility, African businesses and countries must have much easier access to cheap and affordable capital if they are to make the investments needed for a clean energy transition.

Deals are already being set up to enable willing countries to shore up the finance needed to make the jump while protecting their citizens’ welfare. To be successful, such partnerships must provide developing countries with access to capital on favourable, concessional and affordable terms.

More broadly however, industrialised economies must do more to deliver on their promises to provide financing to help Africa transition and adapt to climate change. The whole of Africa accounts for just 3%-4% of global emissions and yet is experiencing the worst of climate change.

Yet, the developed world’s promise to provide $100bn  (about R1.8-trillion) annually in climate financing has still not been met, for the second year in a row.

With adequate partnership and financing, climate action has the potential to be an enabler, not just to avoid disaster, but to fast-track ending poverty. 

Together, we can create new opportunities to improve health, wellbeing and livelihoods, create new jobs and economic opportunities, and ultimately raise living standards using new technologies.

Now is the time to harness all our collective creativity and optimism and deliver on the promise of a just and fair transition; one that delivers on the hopes, dreams and aspirations of billions of people, and leaves no-one behind.

 * Makhubela is CEO of Harith and Sheldrick is co-founder of Global Citizen.