IA Blog: Was COP26 a success for Africa?
15th November 2021
As COP26 drew to a close this weekend, African negotiators left Glasgow to a mixed response. The explicit mention of fossil fuels for the first time in any COP agreement was a significant step but one watered down by interventions from China and India. Despite Alok Sharma’s promised that as President of COP he would champion developing countries, a loss and damage facility to support poorer nations in paying recovery from climate related disasters was scrapped.
As with previous climate talks, COP26 came up against the issue of a just transition. Trust between countries most responsible for causing the climate crisis and those who are bearing the brunt of its impacts remains a significant stumbling block. As talks continued well past the 6pm Friday deadline, Kenya’s delegate said that “trust had been shattered” after the continued failure of developed nations to meet the target of providing $100 billion a year of climate finance to poorer nations.
Despite these challenges, many African countries have made ambitious commitments. Nigeria’s goal to reach net zero emissions by 2060 is a remarkable one, coming only a decade after the UK’s own commitment to reach the milestone by 2050. For African nations, the fact remains that, as ever more stringent ESG criteria deters investment in fossil fuels, securing new sources of energy is a clear priority for economic development. Just last week, Zimbabwe found itself at the sharp end of this new reality when Chinese investors pulled finance from its coal power projects.
Though COP26 may have succeeded in pushing the climate crisis further up the global agenda, without more engagement on climate finance for developing regions, including Africa, efforts to secure a sustainable future will fall short. At an Invest Africa meeting in London last week to discuss COP26’s impact on climate finance, Tariye Gbadegesin, CIO of ARM-Harith Infrastructure Fund Managers called on COP26 to be the “COP of capital” while speakers pointed to Mark Carney’s global financial alliance for net-zero and the creation of the International Sustainability Standard Board (ISSB) as important steps.
However, delegates also agreed that the climate finance structure for Africa is not delivering the large-scale investments the Continent needs. Greater coordination from multilateral institutions and development finance around credit enhancement and de-risking mechanisms alongside further engagement on debt relief will needed to enable Africa to achieve continue on its path to economic development whilst adapting to a greener world. The $8.5 billion provided to South Africa as part of the Just Energy Transition Partnership could provide a model to support African nations in an energy transition which reduces reliance on coal and continues to expand energy access.
At the other end of the spectrum, off-grid energy providers such as Winch Energy and BBOXX offer a pathway to rapidly expand access to renewable energy. For example, BBOXX’s recent partnership with the government of Togo to maintain energy access through the pandemic demonstrated the impact of effective public-private partnerships.
Without further international coordination to ensure that climate finance is available to support Africa’s energy transition and fund those new technologies that will allow the Continent to leapfrog dirtier forms generation, the global fight against climate change will betray those most at risk. Where COP26 may have fallen short in this respect, COP27 in Egypt next year will need to place the interests of developing countries at the heart of the climate agenda.
