"Why climate challenges are an opportunity for Africa"

No dia 5 de Junho, realiza-se o World Economic Forum on Africa, na Cidade do Cabo, onde serão discutidas as questões do clima e da energia e o impacto desta problemática no continente africano.

In Africa, unequal access to energy has reinforced the wider inequalities linked to poverty, gender and the rural-urban divide that have accompanied the economic growth of the past 15 years. Africa is already experiencing severe and damaging impacts from climate change. Yet no region has done less to contribute to global warming than Africa.

So great are the energy challenges and so severe the climate risks that it is easy to lose sight of the opportunities. And those opportunities are considerable. They are part of a fundamentally different narrative that is emerging across Africa. The climate change imperative is seen as an opportunity for Africa’s energy-poor countries to leapfrog straight to clean energy, avoiding decades of inefficient spending on polluting energy sources.

In this 2015 “climate moment”, Africa must emphasize that making the transition to clean energy will only be possible if the chosen pathway ends energy poverty; if it enables countries to continue to grow and transform economically – a “development first” approach; and if it ensures that Africa will not become one of the world’s worst polluting continents.

The climate moment also provides an opportunity for African governments to raise their level of ambition, revisit their energy policies and create an environment for Africa’s dynamic energy entrepreneurs to thrive.

Putting together a report of this scale and ambition is a complex process involving high-level meetings, networks of researchers across Africa and the globe, and the production of innovative design and graphics to portray key facts and data.

Why climate challenges are an opportunity for Africa, por Caroline Kende-Robb, directora do Africa Progress Panel