Problem Statement
Africa is only responsible for 2% of the cumulative global emissions but is the worst affected socially and economically by climate change.
Whilst African countries have a significant natural resources endowment, coupled with land and labour that’s available aplenty, Africa’s access to global value chains sits at an unacceptable approximate 2% of global trade, which is predominantly for the commercial exploitation of African raw materials and minerals, where value is added outside the continent and sold at high premium as finished goods globally and also back to Africa.
A central tenet of the Just Energy transition, enshrined in the Paris Agreement, is that economic benefits must be shared equitably, and the responsibility and costs for climate action be absorbed by those who have contributed most to the climate breakdown, as a core ESG (S), SDG (7, 9, 10, 17) and Agenda 2063 ethical obligation.
What is needed at this stage for Africa’s Just Energy Transition, is a combination of equitable access to global value chains for African ‘finished goods’, long-term private capital, the leverage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and an accelerated and transformational technological leapfrogging transition, from the old and carbon intensive old economy, to a significantly large share for African ‘finished goods’, of the new $10trn pa, Green Industrial Global Economy (GIGE).
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