Show us the money, Africa says at COP27

Mbongeni Mguni | Monday November 28, 2022 12:10

United Nations Climate Change High-Level Champion's special advisor, Bogolo Kenewendo, reports that at the Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt climate change summit, a trend was seen amongst some of the activists.

“There is actually a badge that has been going around written WTF, which means ‘Where is the Finance,’” she told a recent Twitter Spaces dialogue.

“Instead of pledges, we are asking for signatures to be put down for the money.”

Activists at the recently ended global climate change conference, dubbed COP27, were hoping to see more concrete commitments to financing the adaptation and mitigation measures required to stave off the worst of the climate change disaster, particularly among poorer countries.

Due to a cruel twist of fate, poorer countries, particularly in Africa, are expected to bear the brunt of the mounting climate change disaster, despite contributing the least over the decades to the climactic factors that are causing the phenomenon.

Besides commitments on restraining the rise in global warming going forward, the richer nations whose development has led the planet to the crisis and keeps it on the brink even today, have also been asked to set aside funding to help regions such as Africa not only adapt and mitigate climate change, but also transition to climate-friendly development agendas.

However, in both the global warming targets and the funding commitments, the industrialised world has continuously set itself targets and subsequently fallen short of these at each of the COPs. In 2009, rich countries promised to make US$100 billion available every year in climate funding until 2020, but they consistently missed this target, amidst criticism that even the funding that was said to have been made available was over-exaggerated or included loans charged at market value, rather than concessional.

With the Egypt meeting dubbed “Africa’s COP,” the pressure was onto move beyond debates and rhetoric, to real action as the world rapidly moves beyond the point of no-return in terms of climate change.

Kenewendo notes that progress in terms of funding was made at COP27, but much of this was from non-state actors.

“Where we are now is that for the non-state actors’ side, there has been good momentum on financing the Nationally Determined Contributions,” the former minister told the Twitter discussion.

“Really, this year, this time, people don’t want to hear to hear about pledges.

“They want to see the money.”

According to Kenewendo, non-state actors and philanthropists led funding deals at COP27, with hundreds of millions of dollars committed to land restoration, the Africa risk climate facility and other measures.

The African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa was also able to secure more funding, which will be channelled towards concessional finance to private sector investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

For Botswana in Egypt, chief metrologist, Balisi Gopolang told Mmegi that the country’s position was that the funding pledges made for climate finance should be realised.

“Climate finance is indeed necessary as it enables provision of other means of support such as technology (and) it so happens that finance has been difficult to flow,” he said.

“Our position as Botswana is that the flows and pledges made over the years be availed.

“We want to see developed countries meet their support obligations as obligated.”

In Egypt, while funding pledges and commitments were made at continental level, some countries such as South Africa were able to finalise bilateral deals for specific or countrywide programmes.

Much of the bilateral deals focus on the green energy transition, which involves reducing a country’s dependence on fossil fuels and consequently its carbon emissions. South Africa is Africa’s biggest climate polluter and the target of much of the billions of dollars flowing to the continent in bilateral deals for energy transition.

Botswana, meanwhile, emits a fraction of Africa’s total, but has an energy mix which at present is 99 percent powered by coal and often diesel, making the country one of the world’s most fossil fuel dependent economies.

This week, the Minerals and Energy ministry announced that it had selected Jindal Africa to build a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant, the only plant of its kind to be procured by government in its 20-year Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

Due in 2026, the 300MW, will complement the 600MW Morupule B and the 120MW Morupule A as the country’s coal fired plants. Additional fossil fuel generation used by government includes the 160MW diesel generating plants at Matshelagabedi and Orapa.

According to notes seen by Mmegi, Morupule A is due to be decommissioned in 2027, while solar and wind energy projects of different sizes are at varying stages of procurement in line with government’s commitment to have renewables account for 30 percent of national generation by 2030.

The transition from the fossil fuel base to renewables is a major part of government’s commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that the country will reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent by the year 2030.

The issue of funding also comes up in this pledge.

“We are aware of the move to transit from coal fired power to renewable energy, this however comes at a cost as the capital costs are high,” Gopolang told Mmegi.

“We have in our pledge, indicated that we are in a position to reduce and advised that our ability to do so is incumbent on provision of support from developed countries as provided for in the Convention.”

At the previous COP held in Glasgow, Botswana declined to sign a commitment to not issue any new coal licences, but government stresses that it is committed to its pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“From onset we need to appreciate the provision of the Convention that encourages that as we stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations, we need to ensure development proceeds in a sustainable manner,” Gopolang told Mmegi.

“It therefore gives comfort that we could exploit our coal reserves for development and utilise them in a sustainable manner.”

With tightening fiscal space for capital projects, Botswana would ideally want help funding its transition to renewables. At present, the various projects under IRP will be funded by private sector players, with government committing to purchase the electricity produced. Typically, these supply contracts run for at least two decades, such as the 50MW solar contract sealed with Norway’s Scatec in September that will run for 25 years.

Outside of the green energy transition, funding is also needed for various climate change adaptation and mitigation needs, particularly as the country is witnessing increasingly unstable climate conditions through the seasons.

According to Gopolang, Botswana has not yet quantified her finance needs under climate change, but he adds that the country “spends a sizable portion of our budget to address climate change”.

“We have also financed development projects somehow aggravated by endemic drought, through debt.

“Cognisant of this challenge, we have prepared a climate change response policy which seeks to mainstream climate change to sectoral policies and development.

“We have also initiated the process to develop our National Adaptation Plan which will guide on our adaptation needs and these will also be costed,” he said.

The chief metrologist says Botswana continues to seek support to “transit to a green development path,” and opportunities were pursued in Egypt on the margins of the negotiations amongst countries.

With climate change expected to intensify, hitting key economic sectors such as tourism and agriculture, government will have to dig deeper to support citizens who find themselves at the mercy of a disaster caused by factors outside their control.