Thread by @tjayaraman

YET AGAIN - CLIMATE ACTION FORCED ON AFRICA - From the President of Uganda. Excerpts below.
@3rdworldnetwork @bforboseman @AGNChairUNFCCC @moefcc @byadavbjp @KanitkarT @n_thanki @BhaskerTripathi #ClimateJustice @Sreejaiswal @TedNordhaus @TheBTI
wsj.com/articles/solar…

Africa can’t sacrifice its future prosperity for Western climate goals. The continent should balance its energy mix, not rush straight toward renewables—even though that will likely frustrate some of those gathering at next week’s global climate conference in Glasgow.

My continent’s energy choices will dictate much of the climate’s future. Conservative estimates project that Africa’s population of 1.3 billion will double by 2050. Africans’ energy consumption will likely surpass that of the European Union around the same time.

The Western aid-industrial complex, composed of nongovernmental organizations and state development agencies, has poured money into wind and solar projects across the continent. This earns them praise in the U.S. and Europe....

..but leaves many Africans with unreliable and expensive electricity that depends on diesel generators or batteries on overcast or still days. Generators and the mining of lithium for batteries are both highly polluting.

This stands to forestall Africa’s attempts to rise out of poverty, which require reliable energy. African manufacturing will struggle to attract investment and therefore to create jobs without consistent energy sources. .

Agriculture will suffer if the continent can’t use natural gas to create synthetic fertilizer or to power efficient freight transportation. Africans have a right to use reliable, cheap energy, and doing so doesn’t prevent the development of the continent’s renewables.

Forcing Africa down one route will hinder our fight against poverty."
Is the world seeing climate action, or the making of a "green" neo-colonialism??
Thanks for the link to @Sreejaiswal

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