Former Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has canvassed for collaboration among African countries for climate action.
Osinbajo, while delivering the 23rd Chief S.L. Edu Memorial Lecture in Lagos, said that African countries would need to speak with one voice if they wanted their agenda to be recognized and developed along a green economic paradigm.
Entitled: ”Greening Africa’s Economies: Can Climate Positive Growth Deliver Prosperity,” the former vice president added that African countries must put their house in order by embracing transparency, standard procurement procedures and clear policy documents.
According to him, African countries must focus on economic growth and development plan with consistent policies.
Also, he said they must work and harmonise trades and industries.
“They will need to deepen African capital markets and finance. There is need for a lot of collaborations. African countries must develop infrastructure, especially climate resilient infrastructure.
“The continent needs global collaboration. It needs to make the right investment and funding; there is need for reform and climate action for Africa,” he said.
The former vice president described Africa’s climate change experience as a “paradox”, pointing out that despite the fact that the continent is the least emitters of greenhouse gases, yet it’s the worst affected by its devastating effects.
“Despite our relatively negligible emissions, our continent, as the African continent, is warming faster than all other continents, especially the continents of the global north countries, whose past and current emissions are largely responsible for the climate crisis.
“Indeed, practically everywhere in Africa, we are experiencing the catastrophic consequences of climate change. We have the highest incidence today of drought and the second-highest incidence of flooding in Africa. The Horn of Africa has been facing, in the last 40 years, five consecutive failed rainy seasons, and since 2020, with the prolonged droughts in Kenya and Somalia. West Africa also has been experiencing intense flooding, especially in Nigeria, Niger, and also Ghana.
“In 2022, many of us will know that Nigeria experienced its worst flood, killing over 600 people and displacing 1.3 million people.”
He said the emission of greenhouse gas from the use of fossil fuels was the primary cause of global warming, which must be stopped if the world is to attain the net zero objective by 2050.
“But we also know that so far, the progress that the world is making is far too slow to meet our net zero objectives,” he said.
He noted that energy poverty issue in Africa was huge, pointing out that over 600 million Africans had no access to electricity.
“150 million have irregular access. Africa’s 1.3 billion people are serviced by an installed capacity of 244 gigawatts, which is less than the 248 gigawatts available for Germany’s population of only 83 million.
“Over 150 million people have no access to clean cooking fuels.
“And climate change will push an additional 40 million people in sub-Saharan Africa in particular into chronic hunger by 2050 if things go on the way they are,” he said.
To achieve net zero ambitions, he said the world needs Africa to take a carbon-negative path to develop.
“If the world is to achieve net zero, he emphasised that Africa must develop without a source of emissions certainly not anywhere close to what the world’s emissions emitted.
“Indeed, Africa, I think, can kill two birds with one stone. We can help the world meet its net zero target by developing on a green path or what is described as climate positive growth.
“The important thing about this is that it will create jobs and wealth and deal with extreme poverty,” he said.
He emphasised the need for Africa to develop along a green economic paradigm, saying it has massive economic advantage.
He said, “So, if in Africa we can produce any product that is competitive, green product that is competitive, we already have a massive economic advantage. And thanks to Africa’s abundance of high-quality, on-top renewable energy, our young entrepreneurial workforce, and our relevant natural assets and resources, we have the key ingredients to be a major climate action powerhouse. “Indeed, being late startups in industrialization and our low-carbon footprint can actually be an advantage to us, enabling us to develop green-fueled energy manufacturing, saving us the cost of abandoned, legacy carbon-intensive manufacturing projects, and by pursuing an industrialization pathway using renewable energy, of which we have 60 percent of the world’s potential, we can actually develop the first green industrial civilization.”
“We can green global manufacturing and supply chains. We can protect our carbon sinks and remove carbon from the air. We can achieve economic growth without lowering emissions or even keeping emissions constant.
“This way, we can actually realize economic growth, job creation, livelihood improvement, by being a part of the climate solution. I think it’s also been very, very well argued that Africa probably has the best potential in terms of the green and blue assets that we have to become the first truly green industrial civilization and thus enable the world to achieve its next zero objectives. Africa is a global powerhouse of natural and renewable energy resources.
And this positions the continent at the heart of the green transition,” he said.
The former vice president added: “By 2050, nearly 40 percent of new city dwellers worldwide will be in African cities. Of course, that’s related to the fact that Africa will become possibly the third largest, will by that time be possibly the second or third largest in terms of population. So African cities will be driving the massive need for construction materials like steel.
Yet Africa currently produces less than 1 percent of the world’s steel, even though it exports over 77 million tons of iron ore every year, mostly to Asia and Europe. At the same time, Africa imports nearly 6 million tons of steel from these regions.
“So if we process iron ore to steel locally, it could eliminate two-thirds of transport-related emissions, over 5 million tons of CO2 per year.
“Additionally, new brick steel plants in Africa could use renewable energy to produce hydrogen as fuel, cutting emissions from steel production itself by as much as 95 percent.
“Of course, combining local processing and reduced transportation, Africa could actually lower emissions by over 110 million tons of CO2 per year. And we can generate something in the order of about $25 million in additional revenue, create about 24,000 direct jobs, and another 215 indirect jobs in related industries.”
READ ALSO: Energy transition: Nigeria can’t afford to abandon fossil fuel ― Osinbajo
