Climate campaigners in Africa on Monday expressed anger toward the UN climate agency, accusing it of allowing corporations and individuals with dubious climate credentials to “greenwash” their polluting activities by participating in its annual climate conference.
The criticism follows the announcement on Thursday last week that oil executive Sultan al-Jaber is to lead the next round of UN climate talks, which is to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) beginning in late November.
The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance termed the appointment as the “lowest moment” for the UN agency.
Photo: AFP
The UN’s climate body has not commented on the UAE’s decision.
Climate advocates say they are increasingly concerned about oil and gas representatives thwarting the conference, where countries seek to agree on ways to cut emissions. An analysis of the provisional list of last year’s conference participants found 636 people linked to fossil fuel companies were set to attend, a 25 percent increase from 2021.
Campaign groups on the continent are calling on nations to reject any move by the UAE that gives fossil fuel actors control of global climate discussions.
“This is the textbook definition of impunity and conflict of interest,” alliance executive director Mithika Mwenda said in statement on al-Jaber, in which he also called for the president-designate to step down. “It is hard to see al-Jaber leading objective, science-backed negotiations in the interest of the most vulnerable.”
Mwenda said that he feared the talks would be taken over “by vicious fossil companies whose ill-intentions are to derail the transition” to clean energy.
African Women Development and Communication Network executive director Memory Kachambwa called al-Jaber’s appointment “an insult to the collective wisdom of everyone committed to addressing the climate crisis.”
Several other climate and environmental groups have expressed concern over the announcement, while others welcomed the move.
On Sunday, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry told reporters that al-Jaber was a “terrific choice” for the role, as he understands the need to transition to clean energy.
Climate campaigners have also raised concerns about the lack of climate cash being delivered to the continent.
While fossil fuel subsidies and investments in oil and gas are growing in Africa, funding for adapting to climate change and transitioning to renewable energy sources is still lacking, they said.
Last year, nations agreed that countries said to be vulnerable to climate change should receive money from developed countries. The details of the fund are being worked out this year.
African climate advocates have ramped up their criticism of industrialized nations and multilateral development banks in the past eight months for their funding of fossil fuels, which campaigners say undermines the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C since pre-industrial times.
The IMF said that subsidies for fossil fuels had reached US$5.9 trillion globally by 2020.
Fossil fuels investments in Africa continue to outstrip renewables and jumped from US$3.4 billion in 2020 to US$5.1 billion last year, environmental group Urgewald said.
Meanwhile, several climate funding promises, such a US$100 billion-a-year pledge to developing countries to help them tackle climate change, have been repeatedly missed.
The International Energy Agency found that Africa’s renewable energy investments need to be doubled if it is to meet its climate targets.
Africa is home to 60 percent of the world’s solar resources, but only 1 percent of global installed solar power capacity, the agency reported.
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