By Ezaruku Draku Franklin

The US government will partner with African governments to advance a just transition to a clean energy economy that both saves the planet and fosters inclusive economic opportunity, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken has said.

The US top diplomat made the commitment during the   Conservation, Climate Adaptation, and Just Energy Transition Forum at Washington DC at the ongoing US-Africa leaders’ summit.

Blinken said Africa will be at the center of the clean energy transition because its renewable energy potential is second to none.  He said the continent is home to roughly a third of all critical minerals, essential to the technology that will power the clean energy economy, like batteries for renewable energy storage and wind turbines. 

“But with nearly half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population lacking reliable access to electricity and the population set to grow to more than two billion people by 2050, how that transition is made will be decisive in shaping our future climate,” Blinken said.

“The United States will work closely with African countries as they determine how best to meet their specific energy needs – understanding that, for many, the clean energy transition will be a transition to consistent, reliable energy in the first place.  We’ll do so through programs like Power Africa, which has mobilized the public and private sectors to deliver cleaner, more reliable electricity to over 165 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa who previously didn’t have access.  We’re proud to announce a new investment of $290 million in that program,” Secretary of State Blinken added.

Currently, 17 of the world’s 20 most climate vulnerable countries are on the African continent and four straight years of drought in the Horn of Africa have left more than 18 million people facing severe hunger.

He said while communities across the continent are feeling the impact of a changing climate, Africa must not be dictated upon to abandon its economic development to transit hurriedly to clean energy, but work together in a systematic way.

“We know that African nations have contributed relatively little to this crisis but are disproportionally harmed by it.  It’s both unfair and unrealistic to ask them to turn their backs on economic development and opportunity in the name of a clean energy transition, to ask them in effect to forego what many of us have done in the past in developing our countries and our economies,” Blinken said. 

The US Secretary of State’s remarks on phased transition comes at a time when there is growing pressure on Uganda and Tanzania to abandon the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline Project which they said is recipe for climate disaster.

A number of civil society organisations under the STOP EACOP project have launched campaigns aimed at dissuading financial institutions from funding the project, resulting into more than 20 global banks and eight insurance companies opting out of the project.

Government of Uganda also took issues with the European Union Parliament after the institution condemned the project saying it will contribute to global warming.

“And so we believe that the best way – indeed, the just way – to address the climate crisis in Africa is to work together,” Blinken said.

He said the US government is partnering with African governments and other actors to conserve ecosystems.  He said Africa is home to some of the world’s most precious ecosystems, which are critical for combating climate change. 

“This summer I visited the Democratic Republic of Congo, where forests absorb more carbon than is emitted by the entire continent of Africa.  The Congo Basin is also a place of tremendous biodiversity, a lifeforce for agriculture across the region. To support the sustainable management of the Congo Basin rainforest, we’ve invested over $600 million in the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, which brings together the U.S. Government and African and U.S. NGOs,” he said. 

Climate resilience

The US government, according to the secretary of the state is also partnering to make commitments and communities more resilient in the face of climate change.  He said the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience is working with national governments to help more than half a billion people in developing countries manage the impacts of climate change. 

“This and other initiatives to support climate-resilient agriculture are increasingly critical as Russia’s war of aggression compounds the impact on food security. At COP, the President also announced a doubling of our pledged contributions to the Adaptation Fund, which has deployed nearly $1 billion to help over 36 million people in the most vulnerable communities around the world.  And we committed to begin discussions on loss and damage funding arrangements to support low- and middle-income countries,” he said. 

Blinken said while a poor people suffer the brunt of the climate change crisis most, they have never been given seat at the tables where decisions are made. He said his government is working to reverse this and the disadvantaged people are given chance to decide.

“Too often, those who are most vulnerable to the impacts of these changes have been denied a seat at the decision-making table.  We’re committed to changing that, including through the new Accelerating Women’s Empowerment in Energy project, which is making sure that women have a say in how their countries move forward on clean energy,” he said.

He said all of these efforts recognize that combating the climate crisis, like so many other challenges the world faces, was actually championed by Africans in the first place. 

“Indeed, in Africa, we see not only the stakes of this crisis, but also the solutions.  Gabon has led the way in conserving its forest resources, which now absorb 140 million tons of CO2 every year.  That’s the equivalent of taking 30 million cars off the road,” he said.