Historic win or climate injustice? Experts divided on what Cop28 means for Africa
Countries in Africa find themselves on the frontlines of climate change, but many are reluctant to power down development as part of the push to cut out polluting oil, coal and gas.
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While African negotiators hailed the final consensus on moving away from fossil fuels reached at the UN's Cop28 climate summit as a victory, some activists said it failed to deliver the hard commitments the continent needs to face – and fight – climate change.
After the signature of the deal to "transition away" from fossil fuels, the chair of the African group of negotiators, Zambian Environment Minister Collins Nzovu, appeared satisfied.
"One of the crucial issues for Africa was of course the overall goal on adaptation," Nzovu said. "We will be gratified by the definition of these thematic objectives and measurable measures that we want."
The issue of adaptation is crucial and a priority for Africa, and the final draft of the agreement goes further than previous versions.
Funding intended for poor countries to adapt to climate change will be doubled by 2025, according to the text, which this time gives quantified objectives: between 215 and 387 billion dollars per year by 2030.
Nzovu explained the African group's second big demand concerned access to science and technology.
"Here in Dubai, we have made the commitment to triple renewables and double energy efficiency. The objective of reaching 1.5 degrees is maintained," he said.
"For the moment, we really believe that Cop28 was a success."
Divided on fossil phase-out
Although the African continent is one of the major victims of global warming, its countries have always insisted on the need to take into account their specific challenges: poverty and the race for development, which some want to be free to fuel using their oil and gas resources.
Ugandan Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu, who opposed an agreement to get rid of fossil fuels, said that Cop28 "succeeded in uniting the voices of African countries and gave them opportunities to play a proactive role in climate action".
She insisted that transition can't happen without the profits Uganda expects to earn from its oil reserves. It is "not cheap", she told reporters: "It takes money."
But delegates from countries without such valuable resources said they had hoped for a stronger commitment to phase out highly polluting energy sources like oil and coal.
The agreement to seek alternatives to fossil fuels is "much more than historic – it is phenomenal, extraordinary", Sena Alouka, an environmental activist and negotiator for Togo at Cop28, told RFI's Claire Fages.
"It's like the victory of the small, the voiceless, against the big polluters."
Yet, he said, "we are not entirely happy with the decision to use transitional energies to move towards decarbonised economies because that leaves open the possibility of some form of use".
"But this is the compromise. Now it remains to be seen if the devil is in the detail and will take over all the rest."
'Not funded or fair'
Climate scientists have slammed the agreement to transition away from fossil fuels as vague and insufficient, with one comparing it to "promising your doctor that you will 'transition away from donuts' after being diagnosed with diabetes".
The Alliance of Small Island States, which includes several African members, acknowledged that the deal represented progress, but said that the text "does not provide the necessary balance to strengthen general action to continue to correct climate change".
Others complained that the deal failed to address financial realities.
"The text calls for a transition away from fossil fuels in this critical decade. But the transition is not funded or fair," said Mohamed Adow of the NGO Power Shift Africa.
"We're still missing enough finance to help developing countries decarbonise and there needs to be greater expectation on rich fossil fuel producers to phase out first... Finance is where the whole energy transition plan will stand or fall."
Without outside funding, developing countries won't be able to meet the climate ambitions, he said: "If rich countries truly want to see a fossil fuel phase-out they need to find creative ways to actually fund it."
'Leave no one behind'
"It's a desperately weak deal that again leaves the Global South without the climate finance it needs," agreed Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan environmentalist and activist with Rise Up Africa.
She also pointed out the stakes for ordinary people in developing nations.
"In Africa alone, there are still hundreds of millions of people suffering from energy poverty," Nakate wrote on social media.
"The 'phase-out' of fossil fuels must be mirrored by a 'phase-in' of just, equitable and safe renewable energy. We must leave no one behind."
Read also:
- Why winning the climate fight in Africa is a win for the world
- Africa's young leaders demand financial aid to combat extreme weather events
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