How they can go hand in hand.
Heathrow Airport in the UK currently uses more energy than the entire west African country of Sierra Leone. Despite Africa accounting for less than 4% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, many of its countries face significant threats from climate change, including increased droughts, floods, heat waves and potential crop failures.
In fact, 45 African economies are already reliant on commodity exports, including fossil fuels. Yet they are facing increasing pressure to turn their backs on this potentially lucrative revenue stream. Many have claimed that Africa can become a green industrial hub to exploit its renewable energy resources and lead the charge towards decarbonisation. But to achieve this technological transformation and to construct the necessary batteries, solar panels and electrical vehicles requires raw materials.
The challenge of context A green revolution needs money, innovation and technology to succeed. It also needs to address the unique needs of individual countries and even individual people. Put simply, the launch of a green revolution is expensive and context-specific.Solar energy works if your country has a reliable and extensive energy grid that can store and then effectively distribute the energy generated.
Then there is the question of raising the external investment for these projects. The Nairobi Declaration, which was signed at the Africa Climate Summit in September 2023, called for an almost six-fold increase in renewable energy capacity across the continent. Yet, according to a 2022 report by the Climate Policy Initiative, Africa has received only 12% of the finance it needs to cope with climate impacts. This is due in part to concerns over the risk of investing in the continent.
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