For many African countries facing immediate threats from the impacts of climate change, COP 26 cannot just be talk. It must be about action. While the net-zero agenda has been a strong rallying point for action ahead of Glasgow, African countries are equally concerned about adaptation, climate finance and loss and damage. The net-zero agenda must not detract attention from these other pertinent issues.
For Africa #COP26 cannot just be about the net-zero agenda. African countries are equally concerned about adaptation, climate finance and loss and damage @AfricanClimateF @APRI_Africa
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The net-zero agenda has been a strong rallying point for action in the lead-up to COP 26. The concept emerged after the release of the 2018 IPCC report, which called for radical action to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Thirty-one countries and the EU have adopted net-zero targets in law and policy documents, with several other countries actively discussing targets. Over 1500 private companies have also announced net-zero ambitions.
Globally, there has been a strong push for specific net-zero oriented policies such as ending support for the construction of new coal power plants and phasing out existing ones, shifting vehicle fleets away from diesel and gasoline and ending the financing of fossil fuels. The COP presidency aspires to have all countries commit to net-zero targets, including commitments to cut emissions by 2030.
This aspiration includes African countries. Hydrocarbon-dependent African countries are trying to understand what the fossil fuel financing moratoria by multilateral banks, the US, the EU and China will mean for their economies and energy systems and how they can reposition themselves in a rapidly evolving global energy landscape.
At COP 15, wealthier countries committed to contributing USD 100 billion per year to assist developing countries in responding to climate change. Not only does this amount fall short of what is needed, developed countries have also failed to deliver on their promise @AfricanClima
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Beyond Net Zero: What Africa wants from COP 26.
African countries are, however, interested in more than just net-zero targets and strategies. They also want to see ambitious targets for other COP 26 objectives. Where in the global dialogue is the aspiration for adaptation, equitable climate finance and inclusivity? What practical actions will the global community take to address these cardinal objectives? For African countries – which have contributed least to climate change but remain most vulnerable to its impacts – these objectives are as important as net-zero ambitions.
The current situation in Madagascar typifies the disproportionate impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable people and economies. Currently, over one million people in Madagascar face severe food insecurity as the country reels from the effects of a four-year drought—the worst in over 40 years. And yet, Madagascar’s contribution to cumulative greenhouse gas emissions since 1933 stands at around 0.1%.
Madagascar is not alone. Over the past decade, the impacts of climate variability across Africa have become more pronounced. In 2019, Cyclone Idai tore through Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, killing a thousand people and destroying over 100,000 homes.
In 2018, Cape town almost ran out of water. In the Horn of Africa, floods and landslides have taken lives and destroyed the livelihoods of many. West Africa has also been identified as a potential climate hotspot; there, climate variability is expected to impact crop yields and productivity with potentially devastating effects on food security.
What these afflictions show is that African countries need, as a matter of urgency, to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Yet climate adaptation and climate finance remain sticky issues in climate negotiations.
At COP 15 in 2009, wealthier countries committed to contributing USD 100 billion per year to assist developing countries in responding to climate change. The United Nations Environment Program estimated that developing countries would require up to USD 300 million per year by 2030 to support climate mitigation and adaptation. Not only does the USD 100 million target promised by the developed world fall woefully short of that projected USD 300 billion, developed countries have also failed to deliver on their USD 100 billion promise.
There is also an imbalance in what climate finance supports. Because developing countries are already confronted with the threat of climate change to agricultural, economic and social systems, they have asked for financial support to be evenly split between adaptation and mitigation needs. This hasn’t happened; the lion’s share of climate finance has gone to mitigation projects, with less funding going to adaptation efforts that could have shielded the people of Madagascar and Mozambique from climate change impacts.
The challenges of accessing #climatefinance, the historical neglect of #adaptation, and the struggle to get #lossanddamage on the climate agenda, all reflect deeper inequities and the limited bargaining power in global climate negotiations of the countries most affected by clima
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The structure of climate finance has also perpetuated greater inequities between countries and impacted their abilities to respond to the climate crisis. Financial support to developing countries has largely been disbursed as loans and not as grants. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), between 2013 and 2018 the share of loans in public climate finance grew from 52% to 74% while the grant component decreased from 27% to 20%. The terms of these loans are prohibitive, and their very design excludes the poorest and most vulnerable countries from benefitting. According to OECD data, in 2018 as many as 60 countries accessed climate loans at interest rates exceeding 18%, for projects of two-years or more. These prohibitive loan terms mean that the lion’s share of climate finance has gone to middle income countries. The least developed countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and small island developing states have only accessed 14% or 2% of climate finance, respectively.
Developing countries have also struggled to get developed countries to address the issue of loss and damage. An actionable strategy must be established to elevate the historically sidelined issue in climate negotiations that sees extreme weather events disproportionately displace populations and damage infrastructure across Africa.
The challenges of accessing climate finance and the historical neglect of adaptation, loss and damage on the climate agenda are expressions of deeper inequities in the climate arena and reflect the limited bargaining power in global climate negotiations of the countries most affected by climate change.
Developing countries lack agency because they are poor. Poverty does not only make communities more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change; it also limits their ability to contribute productively to framing solutions that work for them. Ultimately, effective engagement in climate action from African countries will rest on their ability to set their own agenda and act on solutions suited to their contexts, without having to perpetually depend on external support to act.
So, while we may all agree that COP 26 is a crucial moment for addressing the climate emergency, we must also recognize that its effectiveness will depend on how well the agenda is refocused to be inclusive of objectives that matter to all countries, both rich and poor. We must look beyond net zero.
Dr. Lily Odarno is the Director of the Clean Air Task Force’s (CATF) Energy and Climate Innovation Program, Africa. The article was first published by the African Climate Foundation and the African Policy Research Institute.
