A new report titled ‘A Just Recovery Renewable Energy Plan for Africa,’ is due for launch soon by an environmental non-governmental organisation, Friends of the Earth (FoE) Africa.
Dipti Bathnagar, Climate Justice and Energy Coordinator, Friends of the Earth International, reveals that the report looks at the reality of renewable energy options in Africa and is based on the research and modelling of renowned academic Dr. Sven Teske which shows that it is feasible to achieve a 100% renewable energy goal for Africa by the year 2050.
The ‘Just Recovery Renewable Energy Plan for Africa’ provides an analysis based on the importance of preventing the worst impacts of climate change and limiting average global temperature rise to 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels. It uses modelling to build a series of demands around building a just recovery based on a 100% renewable energy system for the peoples of Africa. This recovery plan addresses the triple crises of climate change, energy poverty in Africa and need for COVID recovery together.
Africa will be hardest hit by climate change that threatens the poorest and most vulnerable people on the continent. The 6th Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released on August 9, 2021 exposed the fact that global warming has been more rapid in Africa than the rest of the world and the average annual maximum temperature in northern and southern Africa is likely to be close to four degrees Celsius above normal.
The time to move away from harmful fossil fuels towards a transformed energy system that is clean, renewable, democratic and actually serves its peoples, has never been more urgent.
The recovery plan pushes for urgent action and suggests that the one thing that stands in the way of achieving a 100% renewable future for Africa is the political commitment and funding and is why this plan is so important – it provides a pathway to get the funding and achieve 100% renewable energy.
The report shows that Africa needs approximately $130 billion a year between now and 2050 as investment towards achieving the 100% renewable energy goal. It has identified three funding sources that could enable the continent to achieve the goal and produce enough energy to meet demand and eliminate energy poverty. A Just Recovery can be financed by public finance from the global North, ending tax dodging and dropping the debt.
The report stresses that achieving 100% renewable energy is the only way to prevent a climate catastrophe and unlock immeasurable employment opportunities in equipment manufacture, operation and technical support for the sector. It states that a 100% renewable energy goal for an independent Africa by 2050 is not just aspirational, it is possible.
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