<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/27/rich-countries-fossil-fuels-africa-renewables-gas-climate>
"It’s official: we’re about to reach peak fossil fuels. New figures from the
International Energy Agency (IEA) show that the shift to renewable energy is
now unstoppable – and that demand for oil and gas should begin to decline by
the end of this decade. This decline is not fast enough to prevent our climate
warming irreversibly, but it is a death knell for fossil fuels.
In response, leaders of rich countries will be showing off wind turbines on
their coasts and pointing to shiny electric cars on their streets. But they’ve
spent the past few years persuading African countries to increase their gas
expansion instead. There’s $245bn of gas infrastructure planned in Africa, and
gas-rich countries such as Mozambique have faced an onslaught of foreign
companies fishing for contracts to extract their gas.
Rich countries have always had their eyes on Africa as a new source of gas, but
since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up prices, their thirst for African
gas has increased as their own energy security has wobbled.
These projects were pushed as a huge opportunity to boost our economies. But
they were never in our interests, because burning or selling fossil fuels is a
terrible deal for Africa. First, because the gas extracted from African
countries won’t generate electricity for their populations, even though 600
million of us in sub-Saharan Africa have no access to it. Instead, it’s for
export to rich countries. Second, because burning more gas worsens climate
breakdown and brings catastrophic droughts and famines – especially in African
countries. In addition, fossil fuel plants have often meant disaster for the
communities living around them. In Cabo Delgado, in Mozambique, the gas
industry destroyed the lives and livelihoods of the locals but delivered few of
the promised jobs and compensation. In Nigeria, oil drilling contaminated air,
land and water, exposed people to toxic chemicals and lowered life expectancy.
Oil and gas giants have sold African leaders big promises that gas is the key
to development. But this week’s analysis by energy experts at the IEA makes
those seem even more dubious. It predicts that beyond 2025 there could be too
much natural gas in the global energy system, causing a “gas glut”.
For fossil fuel corporations, that means a marginal hit to profits – and their
bets are spread. For African countries persuaded into gas projects, a dwindling
market for gas could mean an economic crisis that could lead to cuts in
national spending and difficulties repaying national debt. We’ve been burned
like this by fossil fuels before: African countries that export oil saw revenue
halved at the start of this decade. As we enter the dying days of fossil fuels,
gas infrastructure in Africa could go out of date almost as soon as it’s built.
That leaves us behind in the renewable energy transition that rich countries
are leaping on for themselves. Money spent on building gas supply
infrastructure is money that can’t be used for investment in the industry of
the future: clean, secure, renewable energies such as solar and wind.
Africans know where the world is heading, and we’re determined not to be left
behind. In October our governments held the first ever African Climate Summit
and called for global support to quintuple our renewable energy capacity."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
