AFC white paper proposes a pragmatic path to net zero for Africa

The summit saw the launch of a white paper calling for a practical and pragmatic approach to achieving net zero in Africa. Africa accounts for less than 4% of current global greenhouse gas emissions. The white paper, entitled Roadmap to Africa’s COP: A Pragmatic

Path to Net Zero, argues that there are limited benefits to be gained from reducing the region’s already far lower emissions.

As the report points out, “Africans must balance the need to combat climate change with an urgency to develop the continent’s economies in order to alleviate hunger and poverty, among other UN sustainable development goals.” It calls for African efforts to combat global warming and developing the continent’s economies to focus on three areas: localising production, building infrastructure, and promoting financial innovation to tap essential climate funds.

Africa contains plentiful reserves of many key natural resources, including iron ore and copper, plus agricultural commodities, such as cocoa, coffee and cotton. Yet at present, these raw materials are overwhelmingly shipped overseas, particularly to Asia, for processing. An incredible 74% of African cocoa and 86% of African crude oil is exported unprocessed, with some of the resulting processed goods being shipped back to Africa. Creating circular local economies will cut shipping sector emissions.

This will require more plentiful and reliable supplies of electricity for manufacturing in Africa, which in turn will boost local living standards and prevent the erosion of forest carbon sinks to provide firewood and charcoal. The report calls for this electrification process to be driven by renewable energy, with natural gas used as a transitional fuel.

Although the production and consumption of natural gas produces substantial carbon and methane emissions, using gas cuts the consumption of higher emission coal, diesel and firewood. Moreover, given that the continent contains the biggest reserves of some of the metals needed for the renewable energy revolution, such as lithium and cobalt, “manufacturing the components of renewable energy technology, from electric vehicle batteries to wind turbines, is an essential circular economy for development in Africa”, the report states.

Achieving all this requires the development of strong and resilient infrastructure in transport, construction, electricity grids and off-grid energy. In addition, sea and river defences, as well as agricultural systems, need to be redeveloped to mitigate the impact of global warming. At present, the continent’s infrastructure is ill-equipped to withstand climate shocks. According to the United Nations, the annual cost of structural damage caused by natural disasters in Africa will increase from $250-300bn now to $415bn by 2030.

It is essential that Africa-based institutions are able to access climate funds to finance this investment. Although building resilience will save on the costs of repairing and replacing infrastructure in the long term, it does require greater initial outlay. Apart

The AFC calls on the international community to take Africa’s energy deficit and industrialisation needs into account

from infrastructure, financing is needed to help preserve Africa’s carbon sinks, including its vast rainforests, which absorb 1.1-1.5bn tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. As a result, Central Africa is one of the few regions in the world that absorbs more carbon than it emits.

The AFC calls on the international community to take Africa’s energy deficit and industrialisation needs into account, as well as requirements on climate-proofing infrastructure and protecting carbon sinks.

Finally, the report warns that worldwide momentum around climate action is likely to trigger dislocations in the global flow of capital, with unintended consequences for developing countries’ access to funds. This is already apparent in the redirection of capital flows to middle income countries to drive carbon emission mitigation, bypassing poorer and less polluting regions. This must be taken into account in devising a blueprint for a pragmatic transition for Africa that balances the continent’s very low emissions and development aspirations, while also ensuring that the region engages in a realistic global netzero agenda.