By Kim Heller
THE burden of climate change lies heavily upon Africa. A 2023 report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) details how African countries are losing between two to five per cent of their gross domestic product to climate-related challenges, catastrophes, and adaption costs. The Continent has been hugely impacted by climate change. It is estimated that 17 of the 20 most vulnerable countries are African nations.
Across the Continent, scorching temperatures soar, and severe floods and storms devastate and displace communities. Drought lingers and the impact is excruciating. Agricultural production is fettered, food and water security periled. The WMO reports that agricultural production in many drought-stricken parts of Africa fell significantly in 2023.
The injury to future growth and prosperity in Africa could be titanic. The forecast is dismal. Over 100 million people in Africa could be at the mercy of drought, floods, and extreme heat in Africa by 2030, according to WMO. The report indicates that it will be the poorest of the poor who will be caught up in a threatening new wave of climate change. The WMO calculates that the cost of adaptation in the Continent’s sub-Saharan region could be as much as $50 billion annually over the next decade.
With early warning systems, disaster management and resourcing out of reach for many African governments, there may be little to no climate justice for Africa in the global just transition journey.
“As the impacts of climate change continue to manifest globally, the African continent stands at a critical juncture,” warns Ambassador Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment at the African Union Commission. Sacko has pointed out how the disproportionate climate change burdens and risks suffered by the Continent have caused “massive humanitarian crises with detrimental impacts on agriculture, and food security, education, energy, infrastructure, peace, and security, public health, water resources, and overall socio-economic development.”
The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), which took place from the 11th to the 22nd of November, in Baku, Azerbaijan, concluded on a sour note. COP29 agreed to $300 billion annually, but this is no lifeline to Africa. Developing countries require $ 1.3 trillion to mitigate against the catastrophic damage of climate change.
That the $300 billion funding is expected to be raised through a multitude of sources, including loans and private finance, raises an alarm. The $300 billion is no gift. It is an unwelcome shift away from the commitment and spirit of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention. For now, there is a whirlwind of scepticism and pessimism.
Ann Harrison, Climate Justice Advisor at Amnesty International, was damning. “The world’s wealthiest countries have spent this year’s climate conference bullying lower-income countries into accepting a miserly finance agreement which could saddle them with huge debts.” She adds that COP29 perpetuates the “ongoing harms stemming from colonialism, and exacerbates the suffering caused by climate change”.
The President of COP29, Mukhtar Babayev, stated that while the deal may be imperfect, it is nonetheless a major step forward from the $100 billion pledged in Paris in 2015. However, the shortfall of funding has serious implications. Not only does it stall urgent responses and remedies to climate and humanitarian crises in Africa but it places the Continent in a more precarious and indebted financial predicament.
Fred Njehu from Greenpeace Africa has argued that the offer is an insult to every African already suffering from climate disasters. “This isn’t climate finance – it’s climate colonialism. While our continent burns, floods, and starves from a crisis we didn’t create, wealthy nations offer pennies while pocketing billions in fossil fuel profits,” Njehu said. He describes the finance deal as a masterclass in historical injustice which betrays climate justice and mocks the polluter pays principle.
There should be a wholesale rejection of a finance agreement based on loans. Debt is a major disabler in Africa and the Continent is in no position to shoulder additional obligations. Africa’s debt burden continues to erode funding for sustainable development, and this is nothing less than a death sentence for the Continent. With heavy debt obligations, Africa’s sustainable development goals are out of reach. Allan Mukungu, an Economic Affairs Officer, at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), has stressed how African countries are battling to finance their needs due to fiscal deficits.
With an average public debt of 67% in 2024, nine African countries in debt crisis and eleven at high risk, Africa is extremely financially fragile. It is unlikely that there will be a truly just or fair energy transition. In all likelihood, Africa will continue to be weighed down by the unbearable burden of climate change. For as long as the global financial and funding apparatus remains as is, Africa will continue to be the stepchild of the world. A poor relative. Exploited, depleted, and left behind to care for itself. Africa is unlikely to receive adequate climate change financing, as wealthy nations continue to bypass their obligations and are increasingly caught up with their domestic financial challenges.
If African nations are ever to become economic powerhouses, they will need to actively set rather than passively accept the terms of engagement. Western nations who fail to meet their historical responsibility or climate change obligations should be scorned and penalised by Africa. If this is not done, the Continent will continue to be an easy treasure trove and dumping ground for the West. The global ecosystem of financing, development and investment needs to skew towards Africa, not against it. What is evident from COP29 is that wealth continues to be seen as the exclusive province of the West, not Africa. Africa should not expect climate justice from those more invested in profits than justice, or equity.
The secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, has said, “Just as the injustice of climate change burns fiercely here in Africa, so do the opportunities.”
It is time for Africa to take advantage of the opportunities. Not the West.
Kim Heller is a political analyst and author of “No White Lies: Black Politics” and “White Power in South Africa”.
** The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL.