Des militants pour le climat d’Afrique subsaharienne se sont réunis le 16 novembre 2022 à Charm el-Sheikh, pour répondre à la ruée vers les combustibles fossiles des dirigeants africains à la 27e Conférence des Nations unies sur le climat (COP27).
Toute l'actu sur la protection de l'environnement
Des militants pour le climat d’Afrique subsaharienne se sont réunis le 16 novembre 2022 à Charm el-Sheikh, pour répondre à la ruée vers les combustibles fossiles des dirigeants africains à la 27e Conférence des Nations unies sur le climat (COP27).
Les organisations de la société civile et les militants internationaux, panafricains et nationaux sont consternés par la menace d’étouffer les communautés et les économies dans une production accrue de pétrole et de gaz pour les décennies à venir. Avant la clôture officielle des négociations sur le climat à Charm el-Cheikh, des militants africains ont pris la parole lors d’une conférence de presse le 16 novembre 2022, pour affirmer leur consternation face à la poursuite de la production des combustibles fossiles sur le continent.
Pour les organisationsde protection de la nature Safe Lamu, Stop EACOP, Fridays for future, Powershift Africa, le Mouvement des jeunes pour la protection de l’environnement en République démocratique du Congo (RDC) et Greenpeace Afrique, certains dirigeants africains ont utilisé la 27e Conférence des Nations unies sur le climat (COP27), surnommée « la COP africaine », pour saper les objectifs de l’Accord de Paris sur le climat en poussant à la conclusion de nouveaux accords sur les combustibles fossiles au détriment des populations et du continent. Au-delà de l’expression de demandes collectives concernant un accord sur un mécanisme de financement dédié aux pertes et dommages et de la demande aux nations les plus riches de respecter leurs engagements climatiques en matière d’adaptation et d’atténuation, des délégations africaines ont profité de la conférence pour se rallier à la nouvelle ruée vers le pétrole et le gaz sur le continent.
Le projet Eacop en Afrique de l’Est
« Eacop, le projet franco-chinois d’oléoduc de pétrole brut en Afrique de l’Est est un exemple clair d’exploitation coloniale en Afrique et dans tous les pays du Sud. Avec 1444 km allant de l’Ouganda à la Tanzanie, il deviendrait le plus long oléoduc chauffé du monde, libérant 34 millions de tonnes métriques de CO2 par an, accélérant substantiellement la rupture climatique. », dénonce Patience Nabukalu, militante ougandaise de Stop EACOP et de Fridays for Future.
Le projet de construction d’une centrale à charbon à Lamu, sur la côte nord du Kenya, fait également partie des projets décriés par ces activistes africains présents à la COP27.
« L’industrie des combustibles fossiles a dégradé nos peuples, nos terres, nos océans et notre air. Trop c’est trop. Peu importe le nombre d’accords qu’ils signent, le nombre de pots-de-vin qu’ils versent, ou les costumes fantaisistes qu’ils portent : nous les attendons dans nos communautés, nous les attendons sur les lignes de front. Nous ne nous arrêterons pas tant que nous n’aurons pas assisté à une transition complète vers des énergies propres et renouvelables. », promet Mbong Akiy, responsable de la communication de Greenpeace Afrique.
Ces projets vont à l’encontre des recommandations du Groupe d’experts intergouvernemental sur l’évolution du climat (Giec), selon lequel les infrastructures de combustibles fossiles existantes sont déjà suffisantes pour dépasser la limite de 1,5°C, et de l’Agence internationale de l’énergie (AIE), selon laquelle aucun nouveau gisement de pétrole et de gaz dont l’exploitation a été approuvée n’est compatible avec la trajectoire vers 1,5°C.
Pour parvenir à un résultat significatif en Égypte, « les délégués doivent écouter les populations africaines et non le secteur des combustibles fossiles, et s’engager collectivement à éliminer progressivement tous les combustibles fossiles, refléter cet engagement dans la décision relative à la couverture et accepter la création d’un mécanisme de financement des pertes et dommages », préconisent les défenseurs de la nature.
Boris Ngounou
Congo-Brazzaville’s Environment Minister Arlette Soudan-Nonault has decided to leave the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) before the end of the negotiations. She believes that the speeches of the heads of state led to nothing and that the virtues of the Congo Basin as the lungs of the planet were not recognised at their true value.
On the afternoon of 14 November 2022, the Congolese Minister of the Environment announced on her Facebook profile that she had abandoned the 27th United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) before the end of the negotiations. For Arlette Soudan-Nonault, the speeches of the heads of state present at this summit led to nothing and the virtues of the Congo Basin as the lungs of the planet were not recognised at their true value.
« Why is this fist on the table? Because it is not normal, the specificity of Africa, which only emits 4% of global emissions, has not been taken into account. We have come to talk about adaptation, we have come to talk about mitigation, we are good at mitigation, but as responsible people, we must continue to reconcile mitigation and development, so we must move towards an energy transition with clean energy, so we need financing. « We also need, in the context of flooding, erosion and the impact of climate change on our lives, to have what is called financing for loss and damage, but this is another bone in our body: we are given the impression that we have created a new instrument, no! We simply need to put in place the two conventions that have always existed but have never been put into practice.
Failure to deliver on the promises of COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009
In an attempt to address this problem, world leaders at COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009 pledged to collectively mobilise $100 billion per year from 2020 to help developing countries adapt to climate change. But this promise has never been fulfilled.
« In recent years, many developing countries and activists have called for a fund to compensate poor countries for the devastation caused by climate change, for which rich countries are disproportionately responsible because of their past emissions. This call was rejected at last year’s summit (COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland), » says Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister, who is also the president-designate of COP27.
Fanta Mabo
COP27: Congo demands promised funds to protect Central African forests
Congo-Brazzaville’s Environment Minister Arlette Soudan-Nonault has decided to leave the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) before the end of the negotiations. She believes that the speeches of the heads of state led to nothing and that the virtues of the Congo Basin as the lungs of the planet were not recognised at their true value.
As part of the work of the 27th United Nations Climate Conference (COP27), Egypt and about 100 partners, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), have published a document on fair climate finance. The Sharm el-Sheikh Guide to Fair Climate Finance, launched on 11 November 2022, aims to help turn promises into action and strengthen the African continent’s drive for sustainable development.
The 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) is positioning itself more as the COP of climate justice. A guide on equitable climate finance was launched by the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation to an audience of development institutions at a high-level panel discussion at COP27, which runs until 18 November 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
The Sharm El-Sheikh Guidebook on Fair Climate Finance aims to develop an international framework for climate finance and help African countries secure more green finance, in an African context marked by budget shortfalls related to the management of the Covid-19 pandemic and soaring energy and food prices.
The guide introduces the principle that climate finance should not be a substitute for development finance, but rather should be additional to it by ensuring that the countries and regions that need it most have the right to access it. It calls on international climate actors to take into account the historical disparities in the distribution of climate finance between countries. It defines the concept of equitable financing in the structuring of international climate finance with the creation of a dedicated mechanism for its implementation.
Africa needs $1.3 trillion to $1.6 trillion
The Sharm El-Sheikh Guide to Fair Climate Finance is the result of a collaboration between the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation and more than 100 development partners including the African Development Bank, financial institutions and non-profit organisations. These include the International Monetary Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Economic Forum, the Climate Investment Funds and the Citi Banking Group.
« Given the devastating effects of climate change, the issue of financing has become central. And with the exacerbation of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, developing countries and emerging economies are more than ever in need of dedicated financing, which is essential for further climate action, » says Rania Al-Mashat, Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation.
Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, said that « the greatest threat to humanity today is climate change. It places a heavy burden on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. It is distorting landscapes, ruining people and threatening the lives of billions of people every day.
In its African Economic Outlook 2022 report, the AfDB says Africa needs $1.3 trillion to $1.6 trillion in financing between 2022 and 2030 to effectively address climate change. Of this amount, US$715 billion is needed for mitigation, US$1.3 billion for technical and technological needs, US$289-440 billion for loss and damage, while US$259-407 billion will be needed to finance adaptation to climate change. On this last point, East Africa has the highest estimated cost of adaptation, at $143 billion.
Fanta Mabo
COP27: Launch of a guide on fair climate finance
As part of the work of the 27th United Nations Climate Conference (COP27), Egypt and about 100 partners, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), have published a document on fair climate finance. The Sharm el-Sheikh Guide to Fair Climate Finance, launched on 11 November 2022, aims to help turn promises into action and strengthen the African continent’s drive for sustainable development.
Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions remain at record levels in 2022. According to a study published on 11 November 2022 by the Global Carbon Project, global CO2 emissions are expected to reach 40.6 billion tonnes in 2022, leaving only a 50-50 chance of avoiding exceeding 1.5°C warming in nine years’ time. The report places deforestation in the DRC among the main drivers of global CO2 emissions.
The 2022 report on CO2 emissions produced by the Global Carbon Project and its international team of around 100 scientists, and funded by the BNP Paribas Foundation, was published on 11 November 2022. It shows that global CO2 emissions are expected to reach 40.6 billion tonnes in 2022, up 1% from 2021 and close to the 2019 record of 40.9 billion tonnes.
Although not a major CO2 emitting country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is singled out for its role in forest conversion. The central African country is cited, along with Indonesia and Brazil, as the main areas of the world with the highest CO2 emissions from deforestation. Researchers from the Global Carbon Project note that emissions from land-use change, particularly deforestation, are expected to reach 3.9 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2022. Indonesia, Brazil and the DRC contribute 58% of these global emissions.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the DRC has the highest rate of deforestation. From 1990 to 2015, the deforestation rate in the DRC remained constant at 0.20%, which is equivalent to the loss of 311,000 hectares per year. A publication by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) provides a net rate that doubled between the two periods analysed, from 0.11% between 1990-2000 to 0.22% between 2000-2005.
CO2 emissions from fossil fuels
Fossil fuel emissions are the main contributor to global warming. According to the study, CO2 emissions from fossil fuel consumption, notably oil, gas and coal, will exceed their record levels in 2022, after the Covid-19 air gap.
Global fossil CO2 emissions are expected to increase by 1% from 2021 to a total of 36.6 billion tonnes of CO2, slightly above pre-Covid-19 levels in 2019. Emissions from coal are expected to increase by about 1%, but could lead to a new global peak. This is partly linked to the energy crisis, which is causing many European countries to restart their old coal-fired power plants. The same is true for oil emissions, which are up by about 2%, mainly due to the rebound in international aviation, although they are still below the 2019 level. Gas emissions are also expected to fall slightly in 2022 by about 0.2% and cement emissions will be reduced by about 1.6%.
Each year, this international consortium of researchers takes stock of global CO2 emissions. The researchers state that « to achieve zero CO2 emissions by 2050, we would now need to reduce emissions by about 1.4 billion tonnes of CO2 each year ».
Fanta Mabo
COP27: deforestation among the obstacles to the +1.5°C target by 2100
Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions remain at record levels in 2022. According to a study published on 11 November 2022 by the Global Carbon Project, global CO2 emissions are expected to reach 40.6 billion tonnes in 2022, leaving only a 50-50 chance of avoiding exceeding 1.5°C warming in nine years’ time. The report places deforestation in the DRC among the main drivers of global CO2 emissions.
After a week of work at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), climate activists are denouncing the inaction of the governments gathered for the summit in Egypt to tackle climate change. An Egyptian symbol was attacked in a museum in Barcelona, Spain.
Due to the ban on demonstrations in Egypt during the 27th United Nations Climate Conference (COP27), environmental activists are carrying out actions from abroad to voice their demands. On 13 November 2022 at the Egyptian Museum in Barcelona, Spain, two young activists, a man and a woman from the Futuro Vegetal collective, sprayed the glass cage with fake oil and then the walls with fake blood using plastic Coca-Cola bottles.
They then unveiled a large banner calling for « Climate Justice », denouncing a « COPCA COLA » in reference to COP27 which is taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and to the Coca-Cola Company, one of the official sponsors of the conference.
« Futuro Vegetal », a Spanish collective for disobedience against the climate crisis, is one of the conservation organisations that are not hiding their frustration at the end of the first week of the UN climate summit, hosted this year by Egypt.
Losses and damage
The launch of COP27 on 6 November 2022 was the first time that the topic of ‘loss and damage’ due to climate change has been officially put on the agenda of a COP.
In the wake of this, leaders of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also launched an appeal on Tuesday 8 November 2022 to support developing countries. On the plant, six out of seven people on the planet live in developing countries. Environmentalists are insisting that COP27 establish a funding mechanism to deal with loss and damage. But so far, only five European countries – Austria, Scotland, Belgium, Denmark and Germany – have committed to addressing loss and damage.
Climate finance
On climate finance, rich countries failed to deliver on their promise to provide $100 billion a year for developing countries by 2020. But the first week of COP27 did not see much progress in this regard. Developed countries, on the other hand, say they can reach $100 billion by 2023.
« The negotiations are moving slowly. At the same time, announcements are being made on the sidelines of the COP, such as that of US climate envoy John Kerry on a carbon credit market, without enough information to assess them, » said Myrto Tilianaki, climate advocacy officer at CCFD-Terre solidaire in France.
Speaking at the opening of the meeting on 7 November 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron put pressure on the United States of America and China to meet the commitments made by these two countries, the two biggest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters, in terms of financial solidarity and carbon dioxide emissions reduction.
Fanta Mabo
COP27: Environmental activists’ frustration at the end of the first week
After a week of work at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), climate activists are denouncing the inaction of the governments gathered for the summit in Egypt to tackle climate change. An Egyptian symbol was attacked in a museum in Barcelona, Spain.