{"id":27768,"date":"2022-08-16T17:22:36","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T17:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow"},"modified":"2022-08-16T17:43:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T17:43:45","slug":"worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow","title":{"rendered":"World’s Fine Words on Climate Change Ring Hollow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Peter Hain<\/p>\n

GIVEN THE PROHIBITIVE cost of delivering a continent-wide grid, can Africa go its own way with stand-alone renewable energy and leapfrog grid-based generation?<\/p>\n

\u2022 Peter Hain<\/p>\n

GIVEN THE PROHIBITIVE cost of delivering a continent-wide grid, can Africa go its own way with stand-alone renewable energy and leapfrog grid-based generation?<\/p>\n

At a Europe-Africa Summit in Gaborone 22 years ago, I proposed and got accepted a motion allocating part of Europe’s mega aid development budget to fund a massive African renewable energy programme in partnership with private companies.<\/p>\n

I was Britain’s minister for Africa at the time, and argued that Europe needed to make this investment, both to combat climate change and because much of Europe’s prosperity was rooted in historic exploitation of Africa, and many European companies continue to reap large profits on the continent, not least from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

The Africa-European Union Energy Partnership (AEEP) followed, but it has yet to make real progress towards making the continent, with its vast natural resources, a world leader in renewable energy.<\/p>\n

Although acknowledging the need to make that transition, many African states are simultaneously developing fossil fuel reserves.<\/p>\n

Kenya, for instance, has both been building the biggest wind farm in Africa near lake Turkana and developing oil fields there.<\/p>\n

Mozambique and Tanzania are developing huge offshore gas reserves.<\/p>\n

Nigeria and Angola are each processing hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day.<\/p>\n

European fossil fuel companies are exploiting Africa’s huge reserves, violating Europe’s own climate commitments.<\/p>\n

South Africa, for example, has recently increased coal exports to Europe to replace Russian gas following president Vladimir Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

After the UN’s Cop26 climate meeting concluded last November, Mary Robinson, chair of The Elders and a former president of Ireland, remarked on a \u201chistorically shameful dereliction of duty\u201d by world leaders.<\/p>\n

But at least the UK, US, Germany, France and the EU committed to provide US$8,5 billion to South Africa for its transition to renewable energy in a way that protected coal miners and their communities.<\/p>\n

Potentially a game-changer in how countries could wean their economies off fossil fuels, while protecting jobs and livelihoods.<\/p>\n

However, in June, Robinson pointed out that \u201cas is so often the case with high-profile financial commitments made in the media spotlight of global summits \u2026 the promised billions have yet to materialise\u201d.<\/p>\n

No wonder critics complain that fine words on climate change ring rather hollow.<\/p>\n

* Lord Hain is a former anti-apartheid leader and UK cabinet minister<\/p>\n

\u2013 dailymaverick.co.za; this article first appeared in African Business on 5 August 2022<\/p>\n

At a Europe-Africa Summit in Gaborone 22 years ago, I proposed and got accepted a motion allocating part of Europe’s mega aid development budget to fund a massive African renewable energy programme in partnership with private companies.<\/p>\n

I was Britain’s minister for Africa at the time, and argued that Europe needed to make this investment, both to combat climate change and because much of Europe’s prosperity was rooted in historic exploitation of Africa, and many European companies continue to reap large profits on the continent, not least from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

The Africa-European Union Energy Partnership (AEEP) followed, but it has yet to make real progress towards making the continent, with its vast natural resources, a world leader in renewable energy.<\/p>\n

Although acknowledging the need to make that transition, many African states are simultaneously developing fossil fuel reserves.<\/p>\n

Kenya, for instance, has both been building the biggest wind farm in Africa near lake Turkana and developing oil fields there.<\/p>\n

Mozambique and Tanzania are developing huge offshore gas reserves.<\/p>\n

Nigeria and Angola are each processing hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day.<\/p>\n

European fossil fuel companies are exploiting Africa’s huge reserves, violating Europe’s own climate commitments.<\/p>\n

South Africa, for example, has recently increased coal exports to Europe to replace Russian gas following president Vladimir Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

After the UN’s Cop26 climate meeting concluded last November, Mary Robinson, chair of The Elders and a former president of Ireland, remarked on a \u201chistorically shameful dereliction of duty\u201d by world leaders.<\/p>\n

But at least the UK, US, Germany, France and the EU committed to provide US$8,5 billion to South Africa for its transition to renewable energy in a way that protected coal miners and their communities.<\/p>\n

Potentially a game-changer in how countries could wean their economies off fossil fuels, while protecting jobs and livelihoods.<\/p>\n

However, in June, Robinson pointed out that \u201cas is so often the case with high-profile financial commitments made in the media spotlight of global summits \u2026 the promised billions have yet to materialise\u201d.<\/p>\n

No wonder critics complain that fine words on climate change ring rather hollow.<\/p>\n

* Lord Hain is a former anti-apartheid leader and UK cabinet minister<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Peter Hain GIVEN THE PROHIBITIVE cost of delivering a continent-wide grid, can Africa go its own way with stand-alone renewable energy and leapfrog grid-based generation? \u2022 Peter Hain GIVEN THE PROHIBITIVE cost of delivering a continent-wide grid, can Africa go its own way with stand-alone renewable energy and leapfrog grid-based generation? At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":27767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-27768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nWorld's Fine Words on Climate Change Ring Hollow - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Peter Hain GIVEN THE PROHIBITIVE cost of delivering a continent-wide grid, can Africa go its own way with stand-alone r ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World's Fine Words on Climate Change Ring Hollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Peter Hain GIVEN THE PROHIBITIVE cost of delivering a continent-wide grid, can Africa go its own way with stand-alone r ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-16T17:22:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-16T17:43:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_21-62fbd739c453a.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"601\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"World’s Fine Words on Climate Change Ring Hollow\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-16T17:22:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-16T17:43:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow\"},\"wordCount\":815,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_21-62fbd739c453a.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/worlds-fine-words-on-climate-change-ring-hollow\",\"name\":\"World's Fine Words on Climate Change Ring Hollow - 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