Nothing can succeed without Africa.. People of the continent need action at Cop27 and beyond
In speeches on Tuesday, African heads of state emphasized
that their countries could not afford the cost of adapting to climate change and
dealing with the natural disasters it fuels.
The African Union has pushed for what it calls the
continent’s “special needs and special circumstances” to be a core
consideration of the conference’s resolutions.
“With her vast
land, Africa has the greatest potential to regenerate the world’s climate,”
President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana said on Tuesday. “Nothing can succeed
without Africa.”
Independent analyses project that even if Africa were to
burn all of its known gas reserves, its share of historical emissions would
rise to just 3.5 percent, up from the current 3 percent.
The people of Africa need action. At Cop27 and beyond,
they need concrete plans to deliver finance at scale, ensure a just transition
to renewables, build climate resilience and address the loss and damage caused
by this crisis.
The oil and gas industry continues to earn almost 3
billion United States dollars daily in profits," said Gaston Browne,
Antigua's prime minister, speaking at the conference on behalf of the Alliance
of Small Island States.
It is about time that these companies are made to pay a
global carbon tax on their profits as a source of funding for loss and
damage," he said. "While they are profiting, the planet is
burning."
“Global and national climate commitments are falling
pitifully short,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. “We are headed
for a global catastrophe. The emissions gap is a byproduct of a commitments
gap. A promises gap. An action gap.”
