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From the beginning of oil and gas exploration in Ghana, the people of Ghana, especially in the local communities of the coastal oil communities, had little reason to believe that oil and gas wealth brought more than great prosperity. But the presumption of net benefits from fossil fuels is eroding as ever-widening circles of people, rich and poor, experience the downsides. However, its greatest contribution to climate impacts on communities.
In the context of an increasingly intense climate crisis, the Abibiman Foundation in collaboration with Friends of the Earth Ghana and the Alliance for Empowering Rural Communities works with three other environmental organizations from Nigeria, Togo and Uganda, in cooperation with Milieudefensie and Both ENDS, all in the Netherlands. have published a report that reveals that since the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement, which was signed five years ago, and despite the undeniable urgency for countries around the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rich countries have Through ECAs they provided more than 80 times more support to fossil fuels than to renewables (solar, wind and geothermal) in the four African countries studied in the report.
The data available from the report shows that only 1% of total support to the energy sector consisted of support for renewable energy, in the form of solar projects. No ECA support has been found for wind projects in the four African countries.
Although many industrialized nations are advocating a switch to renewable energy at home, that support is not seen in their cooperation with developing countries. While they pledge to phase out fossil fuel energy domestically, these commitments are dropped as soon as their companies cross international borders, where they continue to drive dirty energy and as such contribute to climate change.
It is not in line with the Paris Climate Agreement
Export credit agencies provide insurance and guarantees to companies operating abroad. “Despite international climate agreements and national climate ambitions, export credit agencies continue to support large-scale overseas fossil energy projects,” says Niels Hazekamp of Both ENDS. “This undermines the Paris Climate Goals. Export credit agencies play little role in securing green and sustainable projects. This report once again makes us wonder if ECAs can make the urgently needed changes.”
Depends on Fossil
By supporting the expansion of the fossil sector in these African countries, export credit agencies ensure that economies remain dependent on fossil fuels. “And that’s in a world that is increasingly shifting to renewable energy”, says Isabelle Geuskens of Milieudefensie. “Those countries are at risk of ending up with huge debts and fossil infrastructure in the coming decades, while in the future demand for their oil and gas will decline substantially. The Dutch export credit agency Atradius DSB already warns of the dangers of the huge debts in African countries, which are economically dependent on fossil fuels, but at the same time contributes to this dependence by continuing to support fossil fuels in these countries.
People and Nature
Part of the research is based on reports from local communities that have been affected by fossil energy projects. People have been evicted from their land or seen the land and water they depend on destroyed or polluted. They are barely compensated for this, and many end up living in poverty.
Beneconsila Busingye is a 56-year-old widow. She had to move because of the oil developments in Uganda, which were supported by UK ECA UKEF: “First I had to leave my land for the construction of the airport for the oil developments. Access to the land they gave us In compensation, it was later cut off by the government due to the developments of the EACOP pipeline. After my husband’s death, the government did not want to compensate me. I never signed anything, but suddenly I am no longer allowed to use my land How can I feed my children now that my husband is dead?
Export credit agencies for a green and fair transition
With the report, the organizations want to raise some fundamental questions about the role of export credit agencies in supporting dirty energy in Africa. Hazekamp: “The view that export credit agencies have of sustainability is highly questionable. Our research shows, for example, that since the signing of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, ECAs have supported the oil and gas sector. gas in the four countries with an amount of 5.6 billion dollars and large hydroelectric projects with an amount of 5.3 billion dollars.
The report calls on the governments of advanced nations to stop supporting fossil projects through their ECAs. Environmental organizations also ask these governments to critically analyze whether energy projects supported by ECAs in the south can contribute to a just and green energy transition.
We also ask our government of Ghana to work with regional bodies to establish adequate transparency, monitoring and compliance mechanisms to critically monitor all investments in the energy sector. Ensure that international financing flows, such as those supported by ECAs, support a just energy transition rather than a greater reliance on fossils.
Read the report here: ‘A just energy transition for Africa? Mapping the impacts of active ECAs in the energy sector in Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Uganda.
