By Eugene N Nforngwa
Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA)
In 2009, the world agreed to unlock US$100 billion a year to help Global South countries achieve climate goals. This funding should have been in place by 2020.
But plans are now five years behind schedule – a painful delay that only increases the trauma faced by those most vulnerable to climate change.
International negotiations are underway to agree a successor to this deal. We have witnessed President Macron’s summit for a New Global Financial Pact in June as well as the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, both crucial waypoints on the road to COP28 in Dubai this November.
Throughout this year’s negotiations it’s vital that, unlike its predecessor, the next climate finance plan centres on the needs and priorities of people in the Global South. This includes wider access to affordable clean energy, essential for adapting to our changing climate.
The climate crisis is already wreaking havoc across my continent, Africa. It worsens disasters such as the heavy rainfall and flooding that have recently ravaged communities in Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar and Zambia. It deepens drought and hunger, like that forcing people from their homes in the Horn of Africa.
How can clean energy help? By making smallholder farmers more productive, even as temperatures rise. By powering up hospitals facing new or increased challenges. By helping people stay resilient when disaster is on their doorstep. And by building stronger economies and fairer, more cohesive societies.
Investment in affordable, clean energy will help meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as putting countries on the path to a low-carbon future. But in Sub-Saharan Africa, around 600 million people still go without electricity, and about 900 million don’t have modern cooking facilities.
It’s clear that for some people in rich nations, climate change can be downplayed, denied or ignored. Not in Africa. Given the realities we face, the world must ensure that half of all future climate finance is dedicated to new and additional funding for adaptation, and that there is a significant increase in the amount supporting energy access.
What work would this funding support? That of pioneers like Kenyan cold chain innovator Sokofresh. The company is bringing solar-powered cold rooms to the country’s smallholder farmers, and helping even small producers sell to national brands and exporters. Or work by NGO Solar Aid to electrify health centres in rural Zambia, where heavy rains bring power cuts that leave women giving birth by torchlight.
These innovators, and others like them, are at the heart of the Power Up campaign – backed by the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance and more than 60 other organisations. As well as increased global funding, we are calling for new processes that channel money directly towards these relatively small-scale, decentralised energy solutions.
We are also campaigning for wealthy nations, the World Bank, African Development Bank and other powerful funders of climate solutions to use major summits – such as COP28 this November – to match the commitment of these frontline organisations and Global South governments.
We know new funding from these big players will have a multiplier effect, drawing in additional private sector investment. Of course, Global South governments will need to step up to the challenge too – but they can’t do so without international support.
The successor to the 2009 climate deal, the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance, is set to be signed off in 2024. So this year it is essential we build momentum behind a more ambitious, effective and fair response to the climate crisis.
We must ensure that COP28 gives African people facing energy poverty – and the innovators tackling the problem – a platform to share the realities they face, and the solutions they are creating.
