Oil Change International publishes upwards of 20 reports and briefings every year focused on supporting the movement for a just phase-out of fossil fuels.
This is the first factsheet in a forthcoming series that details why fossil gas is dangerous for our planet and our communities in Africa, and how gas acts as a barrier to the energy transition we need for a safe, secure and healthy future.
A new infographic reveals how fossil-fueled development bypasses African communities, but also illustrates the continent's potential for a just transition. As Africa holds 39 percent of global renewable energy potential, governments and banks must shift their climate finance commitments towards a renewable just transition in Africa.
The briefing reveals that new oil and gas production approved to date in 2022 and at risk of approval over the next three years could cumulatively lock in 70 billion tonnes (Gt) of new carbon pollution. This is equivalent to almost two years’ worth of global carbon emissions from energy at current levels, 17 percent of the world’s remaining 1.5°C carbon budget, or the lifecycle emissions of 468 coal power plants.
Between 2016, following the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement, and June 2021, public and private financial institutions poured at least $132 billion in lending and underwriting into 964 gas, oil and coal projects in West, East, Central and Southern Africa. The vast majority of this finance came from financial institutions based outside Africa, both commercial banks and public institutions such as development banks and Export Credit Agencies.
The Sky’s Limit Africa assesses fossil fuel industry plans to sink USD $230 billion into the development of new extraction projects in Africa in the next decade — and USD $1.4 trillion by 2050. It finds these projects are not compatible with a safe climate future and that they are at risk of becoming stranded assets that leave behind unfunded clean-up, shortfalls of government revenue, and overnight job losses.
Communities in Africa have generally contributed the least to climate change, been undermined the most by international trade and finance policies, and have a right to better international support for distributed renewable energy. In order to reach universal energy access before the 2030 target set by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, international public finance institutions have an urgent responsibility to provide more funding and better financial transparency and tracking for distributed renewable energy. Additionally, they have a responsibility to foster local participation in and ownership of distributed renewable energy initiatives. This briefing provides recommendations for how international public finance institutions can fulfill this responsibility, while revealing that from 2016 to 2018, fossil fuels received more than 3.5 times the support than all kinds of renewable energy did during this period.
In January 2020, organizations, networks and community resistance groups from Africa and around the world deliberated on issues including fossil fuels dependence, climate change, energy access and the just transition. Following two days of discussions, they released the following communiqué.
A new analysis of the energy finance provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB) shows that while financing for clean energy access has increased since the bank's landmark New Deal on Energy for Africa, support for off-grid and mini-grid solutions — often the fastest and most affordable energy access solutions — must accelerate if Africa is to realize universal energy access by 2030.
Overall, the MDBs are not financing energy access at nearly a sufficient level to meet the needs of energy-poor communities. Much of the energy access finance that is being provided is being directed to many of the communities that need it most. But even so, energy access is not reflected as a priority for the MDBs.
This report aims to provide a picture of the public finance flowing to energy infrastructure in Africa from fiscal years 2014 through 2016. It covers development finance institutions including multilateral development banks, as well as the national development banks and export credit agencies of the countries providing the most public finance to energy in Africa.
