LONDON - “Like pandemics, climate change ignores borders,” says Nathalie Delapalme, the executive director of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which recently released a report on the climate crisis in Africa titled “The Road to COP27: Making Africa’s Case in the Global Climate Debate.
The foundation best known for its African governance rankings and awards released a “Road to COP27” report in the lead-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in November in Egypt, aiming to provide a blueprint for African leaders in advocating for Africa’s issues at the event.
Sub-Saharan Africa contributes less than 2.5% of the global carbon emission, but the continent bears a disproportionate burden for the effects of climate change. According to Delapalme, global debate on climate change has mostly focused on mitigation and carbon zero goals, but left out adaptation.
At last year’s COP26 in the UK, 39 countries and developing agencies pledged to stop direct international public financing of fossil fuel projects—including natural gas—by the end of 2022. Even with the huge potential for renewable energy in Africa and 22 African countries already using renewables as their main energy source, providing access to the 600 million Africans who still have no access to energy remains a challenge.
If Africa’s challenges are not taken into consideration in global climate discussions, Delapalme says, “we risk just kicking away the development ladder under hundreds of millions of people.”
For the full report on the Road to COP27: Making Africa’s Case in the Global Climate Debate, visit: file:///Users/alibahaijoub/Desktop/The%20rod%20to%20Cop27-making%20Afri%20case.pdf
