A civil society organization (CSO) called “Don’t Gas Africa,” led by Lorraine Chiponda, has urged Nigeria and other African nations to shift their agendas away from oil and toward renewable sources. Speaking on the fringes of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention about Climate Change, Chiponda made the announcement to the Nigerian News Agency on Monday in Sharm El-Sheikh (COP 27). The environmental activist stated that instead of expanding oil exploration, Africa should put its resources into constructing a reliable renewable energy infrastructure.
The climate crisis, which is caused by the combustion of fossil fuels, is putting human life in danger. This is the situation in which the world finds itself. In light of this, he affirmed that they ought to turn off the pipelines that transport fossil fuels rather than allow more people in Africa to perish as a result of the effects of climate change. According to Chiponda, renewable energy is indeed the way forward; it is now cheaper in terms of investment, and it is going to create more jobs that are cleaner.
Big oil firms need to be held accountable for damaging Africa’s climate.
In addition, he emphasized the importance of holding multinational oil companies, the majority of which are based in Europe and the United States, accountable for the harm they have caused to the climate in Africa. The activist contended that these oil firms continue to plunder Africa for commercial gain despite going green in their home nation. Therefore, it is necessary for oil companies to make the transition on their own. They need to take responsibility for the adverse effects they have had on the environment.
Harjeet Singh, the director of global policy strategy at Climate Action Network, also emphasized the need for developed nations to confront the “loss and damage” caused by climate change in Africa. He stated that more than 30,000 delegates, including world leaders and representatives from 198 countries, will attend COP27. The start of COP27 coincides with the end of a year marked by devastating floods, unheard-of heat waves, severe droughts, and powerful storms all telltale signs of the escalating climate emergency.
The COP27 aims to curb emissions of greenhouse gases.
Concurrently, millions of people all over the world are dealing with the aftereffects of multiple crises at the same time, including ones involving energy, water, food, and the cost of living, as well as conflicts and heightened tensions. In spite of these unfavourable conditions, a number of nations have begun to delay or roll back their climate policies and have increased the number of fossil fuels they burn. Therefore, COP27 is taking place within the context of inadequate aspirations to curb emissions of greenhouse gases.
According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, CO2 emissions need to be reduced by 45 percent by the year 2030, especially in comparison to the levels that they were at in 2010, in order to meet the primary goal of the Paris Agreement, which is to minimize the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius this century. The UN stated that this is absolutely necessary in order to prevent the most severe consequences of climate change, such as droughts, heat waves, and rainfall, which are both more frequent and more intense.
World temperature needs to be reduced to 1.5 degrees Celsius per century.
Moreover, a report that was released by Change in advance of the COP27 conference shows that even though countries are bending the shape of global greenhouse gas emissions in a downward direction, efforts are still insufficient to limit the temperature rise worldwide to 1.5 degrees Celsius per century. Since the COP26 conference in Glasgow, only 29 out of 194 countries have presented national plans that are more stringent. More so, the summit, which started on Sunday, will continue until November 18th.
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COP27: Website
