Fadel Kabubu, senior advisor at think tank PowerShift Africa, said:
Fadel Kaboub, senior advisor at think tank PowerShift Africa, said climate change and development finance for African countries must come in the form of grants and loans, and related debts need to be cancelled. said.
Kaboub said any form of loan or transaction that brings little benefit to Africa is foolish. email and guardian On the sidelines of the COP29 conference held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
A deadlock in negotiations on funding to aid developing countries has left many participants at the annual United Nations climate change conference dissatisfied.
Mr Kaboub said countries in the Global North were overshooting their carbon budgets and carrying climate change debt.
Climate debt refers to the cumulative negative impacts of carbon dioxide emissions, the costs of which are imposed without compensation.
Kaboob said the concept of climate finance in its current form is that countries in the Global North, which are the worst climate polluters, have large climate debts that would be repaid all at once. . But that money comes with microcontrols, rules, and policies that effectively benefit polluters.
“If someone owes you $100, they have to pay you $100, even if it's on a negotiated payment plan. But ultimately you have to receive the money.” Yes, but climate debt, and more specifically climate finance, works differently,” he said.
“Instead of me giving you $100, I'll give you $3 and tell you what to do with it. And I'll lend you $7, tell you what to do with it, impose limits, and change policies. Micromanage your choices.”
“Climate change is not our problem.” [African countries] caused. We just pay for it,” he said.
He said what is needed is life-saving technology to manufacture and deploy the building blocks of climate change resilience and adaptation, starting with renewable energy, clean cooking and clean transportation infrastructure to build the logistics of resilience. He said it was a relocation.
Sub-Saharan Africa alone has to pay $45 trillion worth of climate debt, based on quantifiable science, Kaboub added.
Early in the COP negotiations, agreement was reached on strong standards for a centralized carbon market under the United Nations.
“Once operational, these carbon markets will help countries implement climate change plans more quickly and cheaply and reduce emissions,” U.N. Climate Change Executive Director Simon Stiel said last week. . We are far from halving emissions this decade, but winning the carbon market here at COP29 will help us get back in the game. ”
This was hailed as a victory by many, but Kaboob did not share that sentiment.
“The way the carbon market works is that you have historical polluters in the Global North who are unable or unwilling to decarbonize and intend to continue emitting, but are willing to issue pollution permits to offset their emissions. “They're trying to buy it. This is also happening in African countries, like Kenya, where they have designated one of their forests as a carbon sink,” he said.
“And once you do that, to offset pollution by someone in the Global North, that carbon forest is now the territory of the carbon market, so you need to protect it. You need to protect it. They need to be protected from the custodians, the indigenous peoples who live there, who are now being forced out of their ancestral lands, their pastoral lands, and whose forests are designated as carbon territory, in order to cause climate change. There is a need.”
The main problem, he said, is that forests store carbon, and in the event of an event like bushfires, which are becoming more likely due to climate change, “all that carbon ends up being released into the atmosphere.” ” he said. So this is not a solution to climate change or even a solution to climate finance,” he said.
The concept of Africa as a carbon realm is simply green colonialism, he says.
Kabubu said that for the current climate negotiations and the remaining days of COP29 to be successful for Africa, it is important that the continent comes together as one voice. “It is clear that this negotiation is about power. Africa has the moral argument, the science and the facts on our side, but no political influence.”
To change this narrative, it is important that the continent works with the various blocs based on a unified position and remains resolute in its advocacy and negotiations.
“we [would] I would rather have no deal than a bad deal,” Kaboub said, adding that uniting with small island states and Arab groups would strengthen Africa's voice and position. He stressed that the funds needed are Africa's right, not charity.
“It's like someone breaking into your house, breaking all your furniture, breaking your legs, destroying your life, and then going to court and telling the judge what happened. You. have all the evidence. Don't beg the person who destroyed your home to borrow money with interest. Don't beg or invite that person to take your forest with you. You shouldn't, right? So you have justice and you have a right,” he said.
He said one way to leverage power is to reserve critical resources that developed countries need for industrialization, such as critical minerals, which would mean African countries could negotiate technology transfers. .
Kaboob said only transitional partnerships like South Africa's served to divide developing countries and separate them from the bloc. He urged leaders to be wary of initiatives such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism – a tax on high-carbon products entering the European Union and the UK.
