The second African Union Climate Summit (ACS2) has ended in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This preparatory meeting was held ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), scheduled in Belem, Brazil, from November 10 to 21. African countries intend to take part with joint programmes, demands, proposals, and priorities.

From the final document of the summit, known as the Addis Ababa Declaration, three main pillars emerge:

• accelerating the development of renewable energy;
• forming a coalition of countries that possess essential minerals to ensure fair value in global supply chains;
• protecting natural heritage through partnerships for reforestation and landscape restoration.

Goals

The aim is to transform the continent into a green industrial power in renewable energy and climate solutions, while at the same time demanding fair and guaranteed financing from the international community.

In particular, the Declaration calls for “enhanced and sustained support to expand the implementation of Africa-led climate initiatives, such as the African Union Great Green Wall Initiative, the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative, the Ethiopian Green Legacy Initiative, among others.”

“Our vision is clear. We are committed to forging a prosperous, resilient, and green continent,” said Ethiopian president Taye Atske Selassie. “It is an injustice that over 600 million Africans still live without access to electricity. Our climate action must begin with massive investments in renewable energy and a call for climate justice.”

“Africa’s calls for climate financing are not appeals for charity. They are appeals for equity, justice, and shared global responsibility,” added the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, Bankole Adeoye. “Africa is not a problem to be solved. Africa is a solution to be supported.”

What is Being Requested

African leaders point out that the continent needs over 3 trillion dollars to meet its climate goals by 2030 but received only 30 billion between 2021 and 2022. While waiting for external funding that trickles in slowly, Africa is aiming to mobilize 50 billion dollars annually for climate resilience solutions through two new internal financial instruments: The Africa Climate Innovation Compact and the African Climate Facility.

African leaders also signed an agreement between African development financiers and commercial banks to mobilize another 100 billion dollars for investments in green energy production.

Africa contributes less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions but is among the regions most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The continent loses between 2% and 5% of its GDP every year due to climate disasters. According to the African Union, more than 100 million people across the continent are at immediate risk from droughts, floods, or cyclones, while conflicts over water and land resources continue to increase. Climate change in Africa costs between 5% and 15% of per capita GDP.

The Great Myth of the Energy Transition

The data from a comprehensive international study titled Who Is Financing the Expansion of Fossil Fuels in Africa? carried out by Urgewald, Stop Eacop, Oilwatch Africa, Africa Coal Network, and 33 other African NGOs engaged in denouncing human rights violations and environmental damage, speak clearly: the dirty energy business is booming on the continent, driven by foreign investors and financed by commercial banks, with Total, Eni, and Sonatrach in the lead.

For Africans, the benefits are zero; for the planet, the damage is enormous. The report exposes the hypocrisies, proclamations, and policies that disguise a simple reality: the fossil fuel rush in Africa is in full swing. It involves 200 companies exploring or developing new fossil fuel reserves and new infrastructures such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, pipelines, or gas and coal power plants.

Oil, gas, and coal companies – supported by banks, investors, and insurers that provide them with financing – are operating in 48 out of 54 African countries, even drilling in natural reserves or near UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The report reveals that 89% of new LNG capacity in Africa is intended for export (mainly to Europe and Asia), and that international investors hold over 109 billion dollars in the companies driving the fossil fuel expansion in Africa: “dirty energy projects completely incompatible with the Paris climate goals and the 1.5°C limit,” says Omar Elmawi of the Stop Eacop campaign.

Since 2017, new oil and gas explorations have been authorised on 886,000 km², an area larger than France and Italy combined. Of the 45 African countries where the oil and gas industry is prospecting, 18 are so-called “frontier countries,” such as Namibia, Uganda, or Somalia, because they have little or no existing oil or gas production.

According to Rystad Energy data, oil and gas exploration expenditures in Africa rose from 3.4 billion dollars in 2020 to 5.1 billion in 2022. African companies account for less than a third of this amount. Most exploration of new oil and gas resources in Africa is carried out and financed by foreign companies.

The Companies Involved

First among them is the French company Total Energies, which sources 25% of its hydrocarbon production from Africa and aims to increase it to 2.27 billion barrels. The extraction and combustion of these resources would equal three years of France’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.

In second and third place are Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach (1.75 billion barrels) and Italy’s Eni (1.32 billion barrels). Altogether, oil and gas companies are adding at least 15.8 billion barrels to their African production portfolios before 2030. This would result in 8 gigatons of CO₂ equivalent released into the atmosphere – more than double the annual emissions of all European Union countries combined.

Infrastructure – pipelines and LNG terminals – is costly: Total Energies’ projects alone will cost over 5 billion dollars and are expected to operate for at least 20 years; the Rovuma LNG project by ExxonMobil and Eni in Mozambique and the Tanzania LNG project by Equinor are each estimated at 30 billion dollars, with 30 years of operation.

The Death of Renewable Energy

These projects will generate billions of dollars but will block any hope of a path toward renewable energy: “achieving full access to modern energy in Africa by 2030 would require 25 billion dollars per year,” according to the International Energy Agency, a sum comparable to the cost of a single large LNG project.

“Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels is one of the main drivers behind the new LNG projects in Africa. The rush for Africa’s oil and gas has nothing to do with increasing energy access for Africans,” says Anabela Lemos, director of Justiça Ambiental.

The coal industry is also continuing to expand across the continent. Coal mines and fossil transport infrastructure are already planned or under development in 11 African countries. In Zimbabwe, where 47% of the population lacks access to electricity, a major fossil fuel exploitation plan is underway. Currently, 70 new coal mines are active in 9 African countries: the highest numbers in South Africa (49), Zimbabwe (6), Botswana (5), and Mozambique (4). And this despite Africa’s vast renewable energy potential.

According to the report, in July 2022 more than 5,000 institutional investors held shares and bonds worth 109 billion dollars in companies developing new fossil fuel projects in Africa. The largest institutional investor in Africa’s fossil fuel sector is BlackRock, with stakes of over 12 billion dollars. Others include Vanguard (8.4 billion) and the Norwegian Government Pension Fund (3.7 billion).

Commercial banks are also pouring capital into the development of new fossil projects in Africa: more than 98 billion dollars between January 2019 and July 2022. Among them are Italian banks UniCredit (2.163 billion) and Intesa Sanpaolo (1.491 billion), both supporting Eni’s oil and gas projects. In 2021, Eni was Africa’s second-largest multinational in extractive activities. Some 59% of its global production comes from the African continent, and an increase of 1.32 billion barrels is expected in the coming years. Eni is present in 14 African countries, including Egypt, Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, the Republic of Congo, Angola, and Mozambique. It is precisely in Mozambique, in the richest gas areas, that an armed insurgency led by a jihadist movement has been underway since 2017, causing more than 4,000 deaths and 800,000 displaced people, among them Comboni missionary sister Maria De Coppi.

According to the report, 71% of banking support for fossil fuels in Africa comes from banks that are members of the Net Zero Banking Alliance. “This African gas rush as a response to the energy crisis affecting Europe bodes ill,” the study warns, “and it will certainly not increase energy access for Africans.” The profits will overwhelmingly flow to a global elite, while local communities will once again be left to face pollution, impoverishment, and human rights violations – the hallmarks of fossil fuel and coal development in Africa (see Antonella Sinopoli in Rivista Nigrizia).