If we removed South Africa and the countries of North Africa from the data, the remaining sub-Saharan African countries, home to some one billion people, have accounted for just 0.55 percent of total emissions. The top priority for COP28 should be to support the financing needs of African and other emerging and developing countries to support affordable renewable energy. She also notes that just six African countries are on the receiving end of this finance. Beyond supporting renewable energy in Africa, however, we must also understand this basic fact: Africa’s emissions are low not because of poor policies or abundant green power. “If we’re going to have a just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, we’ll need both,” says NJ Ayuk, executive director of the African Energy Chamber.

Source: The North Africa Journal July 04, 2023 17:50 UTC