Africa Climate Summit: “It looks like a trade conference on carbon credits”
The Summit ignores fossil fuels and promotes false solutions
The Africa Climate Summit is supposed to drive “green growth and climate finance solutions for Africa and the World”. Here’s how Kenya’s president William Ruto describes it in a promotional video for the summit:
“Between 4th and 6th September this year, Nairobi will host the Africa Climate Summit where our continent will gather to define and refine its fresh and distinctive position regarding how humanity should engage in effective action in order to save this planet from a climate catastrophe and at the same time lift hundreds of millions out of poverty.”
Ruto says the words “climate catastrophe” over footage of him enthusiastically planting trees at the 7th Kaptagat Tree Planting event in July this year. Kenya has a target of planting 15 billion trees by 2032.
Planting trees is not a solution to the climate crisis. Tree planting is a dangerous distraction from the need to find ways of leaving fossil fuels in the ground.
Of course Ruto makes no mention of fossil fuels in his promotional video.
A pro-West agenda
More than 500 civil society organisations have signed on to an open letter about the Africa Climate Summit. They write that,
Rather than advancing Africa’s interests and position on critical climate issues, the summit has been seized by Western governments, consultancy companies and philanthropic organisations hellbent on pushing a pro-West agenda and interests at the expense of Africa.
The letter states that “the agenda of the Summit has been unduly influenced by US-based consultancy firm McKinsey and Company”.
The two themes for the Africa Climate Summit are “Green what we consume” and “Protect what we have”. The former includes energy transition, green minerals, sustainable agriculture, and sustainable infrastructure. The latter consists of natural capital.
Natural Climate FALSE Solutions
The Nature Conservancy is the non-state technical lead on natural capital, with strategic support from McKinsey and IUCN.
The Nature Conservancy is the organisation behind the 2017 paper titled “Natural Climate Solutions” which makes a series of absurd assumptions in order to conclude that natural climate solutions, such as tree planting and avoided deforestation, could mitigate 37% of global carbon emissions.
Since 2009, the Nature Conservancy has been working with oil giant Shell. The Nature Conservancy partnership is nothing more than a profitable distraction from meaningful action to address the climate crisis.
McKinsey and IUCN both buy carbon offsets. Their records do not look good.
McKinsey bought offsets from the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project in Cambodia.
The project developer, Wildlife Alliance, carries out a brutal form of fortress conservation, including burning homes, burning a villager’s tractor, and carrying out paramilitary operations with government rangers and military police. In June 2023, Verra suspended the project following a letter from Human Rights Watch.
In December 2021, IUCN retired 1,030 carbon offsets from the Madre de Dios Amazon REDD project in Peru to offset emissions from the IUCN World Conservation Congress. The project consists of two logging concessions. It uses a fake baseline to generate carbon offsets. And one of the logging concessions overlaps the territory of the Mashco Piro, an Indigenous People living in voluntary isolation.
Carbon markets
McKinsey helped to design the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative which was launched in November 2022 at COP27. McKinsey states that ACMI’s aim is “to grow African carbon credit retirements approximately 19-fold from 2020”.
Activists rejected the ACMI. Nnimmo Bassey, director of the Nigerian organisation Health of Mother Earth Foundation described ACMI as “a disincentive to progress in cutting down on emissions”.
Needless to say carbon markets are on the agenda of the Africa Climate Summit, as a means of “unlocking investment flows”.
Augustine Bantar Njamnshi, a Cameroonian activist with Pan African Climate Justice Alliance told African Arguments that,
“We had a lot of hope this summit would put African priorities at the heart of climate negotiations, notably adaptation finance. It should have been a summit by Africans for Africans. Instead, it looks like a trade conference on carbon credits.”
The open letter about the Africa Climate Summit specifically rules out carbon markets, “which are designed to encourage wealthy countries and people to continue polluting and turning Africa into a dumping ground”.
Here is the letter in full. A French version is also available, and the list of more than 500 organisations that signed on can be seen here.
Dear President William Ruto,
We are gravely concerned about the direction the African Climate Summit is taking.
We look up to you as Africa’s most senior leader on climate change. As the Chairperson of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), you are the fulcrum around which Africa’s interests and position on climate issues revolves as defined by African Ministers (AMCEN) and officials (AGN).
The summit is a tremendous opportunity to chart a new course for the continent that creates a leadership vision for a cleaner, safer and prosperous future that protects our people, our food systems, water resources and biodiversity.
This vision must boost our collective efforts to build our renewable energy systems and electrification infrastructure on a scale that benefits millions of Africans while inspiring other countries to make interventions that prevent further global heating.
Rather than advancing Africa’s interests and position on critical climate issues, the summit has been seized by Western governments, consultancy companies and philanthropic organisations hellbent on pushing a pro-West agenda and interests at the expense of Africa.
Even more worryingly, the agenda of the Summit has been unduly influenced by US-based consultancy firm McKinsey and Company. The lead of African officials and ministers has been pushed on the backburner.
These developments are seriously unsettling.
The Summit concept note, as proposed by McKinsey and Company, reflects the interests of the US, McKinsey and the Western corporations they represent. Meanwhile, Africa’s stated priorities are conspicuously missing, as a result.
Moreover, the so-called “think tanks committee” set up to drive negotiations at the Summit is chaired by individuals who represent UK and US-based organisations and not African organisations.
The content for the Summit – including major initiatives – is being led by McKinsey, with the World Resources Institute now competing to shape the agenda and its outcomes. Both are headquartered in the United States and do not champion Africa’s interests.
Some African organisations that advance Western agenda have also been given a disproportionately huge role in the organisation of the event.
The result is a Summit agenda that foregrounds the position and interests of the West, namely, carbon markets, carbon sequestration and “climate positive” approaches. These concepts and false solutions are led by Western interests while being marketed as African priorities. In truth, though, these approaches will embolden wealthy nations and large corporations to continue polluting the world, much to Africa’s detriment.
African professionals and leaders are aware of the capture of this Summit by non-Africans and some are already threatening to not attend. This trend will grow as word spreads that this is not an African conference. The risk is the collapse of the event in the eleventh hour.
But all is not lost, Mr. President. Things can still be remedied. We, therefore, call for an urgent reset of the Summit in a manner that puts Africa’s interests first.
As an African Head of State who champions the continent’s interests in the climate discourse, you have gained international recognition for fronting transformative ideas and being firm in this cause. Similarly, there is a wealth of African-led ideas and proposals that the Nairobi summit must consider.
To restore the meeting on track and to advance an agenda of, by and for Africans, we call on you to:
Withdraw the control and influence of Mckinsey in the organisation of this Summit. In exchange, an African-led expert group has to be established to help reshape the Summit’s agenda.
Ensure the meeting advances Africa’s interests and priorities as promoted by African Governments and civil society in the UNFCCC.
Adopt an integrated approach to Africa’s climate, energy and development issues. Without such an integrated African-led approach, concepts like “green growth” will simply further “neo-colonialism”.
Advance a strong focus on renewable energy to counter efforts by the fossil fuel industry, Western interests, fossil fuel-producing African countries to hijack Africa’s just energy transition.
Avoid all false solutions such as carbon markets and geo-engineering which are designed to encourage wealthy countries and people to continue polluting and turning Africa into a dumping ground and field for technological trials.
Implement and adopt climate policies that promote a just and equitable phase-out of all new oil, gas and coal projects on the African continent in line with Africa’s development interests and the recommendations of IPCC, IEA and other scientific organisations by cutting public and private financing.
Seek transparent and meaningful dialogue between citizens and policymakers across the continent to build a shared African narrative and agenda to tackle the interlinked challenges of climate, energy and development.
Promote avenues that provide sufficient and consensual climate funding to realise this commitment.
Whoa, Hold your horses! The West NEEDS that big continent of empty land (Africa) to slice up to use for offsets, so that we in the West (Global North) can keep our Good Life going full steam ahead, so that we can sail our gigantic cruise ships into your ports to satisfy the boredom of tourists, and to show you the bounties of consumerism that our finance schemes will prevent you from ever attaining.
Great reporting on this "conference," thank you!