The Green Transition: Africa Climate Summit special
Weekly analysis of the shift towards a new economy.
Dear Readers,
Happy Friday. Jonny Ball here, associate editor of Spotlight, the New Statesman’s policy section.
You may have heard that the UK has failed to attract any bids for building new offshore wind capacity, due to the inadequate “strike price” set by the government. This is a significant blow to the country’s net zero ambitions, and our business editor, Will Dunn, has the story covered in this morning’s Morning Call email, which you can read and subscribe to here.
We have some extra Spotlight-The Green Transition announcements this week:
1) A new-look homepage. Check it out – there are more prominent slots for our usual coverage as well as our new(ish) regular weekly features like The Research Brief and The Policy Ask. If, like us, you’re a total policy nerd, and you’d like you/your work featured then do get in touch. And we’re always open to pitches from think tankers, experts, MPs and other assorted policy botherers writing about solutions to our knottiest problems.
2) And...below is a very special edition of the Green Transition, with a dispatch from the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi and exclusive comments from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, no less. Words this week are by the excellent Nick Ferris, New Statesman contributor and data journalist for our sister publication, Energy Monitor.
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Cheers!
Africa Climate Summit Dispatch: Kenya feel the winds of change?
By Nick Ferris
NAIROBI - At the Kenyatta International Convention Centre – a striking, brutalist monolith in downtown Nairobi – the first ever Africa Climate Summit concluded with Africa’s 54 nations signing the “Nairobi Declaration”. This is the first time in history that African leaders have reached a joint position on climate change and climate policy.
After a sudden bumper influx of some twenty African leaders arrived on the second day (and Emmanuel Macron, tipped to appear, didn't materialise), the schedule of talks and panels fell some four hours behind, as leaders gave similar-sounding speeches to the assembled. They called for more climate action, development opportunities and, crucially, finance.
On the latter point, they weren’t alone. Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, was also at the summit. Speaking to the Green Transition, he said that now is the time to “mobilise the world’s resources to make sure that Africa has the finances required for its renewables revolution”.
Climate commentators have marked the conference as a success: Africa – a continent that produces just 4 per cent of emissions and where only 60 per cent of the population have access to electricity – is set to now project a more powerful, unified voice at the upcoming Cop28 in Dubai.
"This declaration will serve as a basis for Africa's common position in the global climate change process," reads the cover text of the final declaration. "No country should ever have to choose between development aspirations and climate action."
The declaration was officially released at an outdoor address to the press on Wednesday, where national anthems played, fireworks were set off, and those leaders that had not yet returned home waved to delegates gathered in the intense Nairobi heat. William Ruto – Kenyan president since 2022 – stood alongside leaders including Salva Kiir of South Sudan, a country where 76 per cent of the population requires humanitarian assistance, according to the World Bank. There was Isaias Afwerki, the authoritarian leader of Eritrea, a country that comes second to last in the Press Freedom Index after North Korea; and Mahamat Déby, leader of Chad, whose neighbours Sudan and Niger have both experienced dramatic coups d’etats or serious civil strife in the past few months.
African nations differ hugely in their cultural character, landscapes, and politics. But with the continent warming faster than the global average (at 0.3C per decade), and a 1.3bn population that is expected to double by 2050, all countries have significant climate and development concerns.
The Nairobi Declaration seeks to address these. It includes calls for the global financial system to be reformed, noting the high costs of borrowing in Africa (around eight-times higher than in Europe). It also calls for the long-promised pledge of $100bn in climate finance for the developing world from wealthier nations to finally be met; and for the continent’s renewable generation capacity to increase six-fold by the end of the decade.
There was also a sense on the ground, though, that while the declaration was a significant moment, it does not necessarily push climate policy on in a concrete way.
“It is certainly historic to have a summit that is really looking at Africa, and the continent’s role in both addressing climate change, but also looking at the opportunities that we could be able to leverage within the context of climate change”, Lily Odarno, a director at the think tank the Clean Air Task Force, told Green Transition.
“Given the discussions we were having beforehand, though, nothing really surprised me in the final cover text, and in fact the language was a bit broader and more general than I was originally hoping to see”.
The other big story at the conference was an array of financial pledges made by visiting leaders and dignitaries. But while the final $23bn figure promised by developed countries, financial institutions, and energy firms might seem like a lot on paper, it pales in comparison to what Africa needs.
“It’s a drop in the bucket”, says Odarno. “The Africa Development Bank has estimated that we need $2.7trn in extra finance for the continent to meet its Sustainable Development Goals, which is a far cry from what we see here”. Africa, and the world, have a long way to go towards net zero, but summits like this are the first step.
In Brief
I haven’t got the energy (guarantee): Norwich MP and Green New Deal proponent Clive Lewis wrote a piece for us advocating for a national energy guarantee – a three-tiered differential pricing structure that ensures low-income, low-energy-use households don’t struggle to heat or eat. Less about sustainability, and more helping with the immediate cost-of-living crisis, Lewis nevertheless claims his amendment to the Energy Bill currently going through parliament has the support of climate activists and is a “matter of climate justice”.
Murky waters: Spotlight’s excellent new sustainability correspondent Megan Kenyon has this update on the changes to nutrient neutrality rules announced by the government last week. The regulatory tweak will supposedly help remove red tape for housebuilders, but critics say they will worsen the already parlous state of our waterways.
Defra-nately maybe: Last week we had a new energy secretary. This week, it’s a new shadow environment secretary, Steve Reed. Again, you’ve got Megan to thank for this great read on the first key challenge for him to negotiate: the party’s position on the nutrient neutrality rules mentioned above. Labour have staked their claim as the party of housebuilding, and their response to the government’s announcements have so far been vague. Will they back developers or clean rivers? Is it a mutually exclusive choice? Read more here, and let’s see how Reed gets on with this tricky balancing act.
Thank you for reading, and please send any news or comments to: jonathan.Ball@newstatesman.co.uk
See you next week.
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