Stop financing fossil fuel projects in Africa – Environmental coalition to AfDB

A coalition of climate change-focused NGOs across Africa has called on the African Development Bank (AfDB) to stop providing financial and technical support for fossil fuel energy in Africa.

“Establish an immediate ban on any new fossil fuel projects and publish a roadmap for phasing out all fossil fuel development financing to advance the just transition in line with the Paris Agreement” it stated in a document sighted by Citi News.

The group charged the development finance institution to “prioritize the development and implementation of a fossil fuel finance exclusion policy that states that the bank will not fund, provide financial services, or capacity support to any coal, gas, or oil project or related infrastructure project that is carbon-intensive on the African continent after 2022.”

The proposal focusing on energy; agriculture, forestry, land and ecosystems; and climate finance is an outcome of consultative processes with CSOs across Africa that seeks to promote human rights, sustainable development, and effective partnership.

On the energy sector, the group called for AfDB to “commit to 2022 as a target date for publishing a roadmap for the 1.5ºC Paris alignment goal for reducing emissions, to be implemented by 2023-2025″ as this will make AfDB “a leader and go a long way in influencing other African development finance institutions to raise their ambition.”

It further called on AfDB to “expand their level of support by increasing Africa’s resilience and ambition to leave fossil fuels and large-scale livestock industrial/factory farming in the past, and leapfrog to the age of 100% renewable energy and inclusive sustainable development.”

In the development of agriculture, forestry, land, and ecosystems, the group among a list of actions proposed an established “green framework that recognizes the drivers contributing to biodiversity loss as well as the destruction of ecosystems and vital carbon sinks before identifying the solutions it intends to invest in.”

“The policy should guide a managed and equitable phase-out, taking into account principles of equality and justice for those primarily affected within the timeliness needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement,” it said.

From the climate finance area, it proposed that AfDB should “shift investment portfolios already connected to agriculture-related investments to support 100% sustainable agricultural approaches” as well as “support investments in nature-based solutions more suited to the geopolitical architecture of Africa”.

The development finance institution should “work with and involve the private sector to develop and commit to zero-deforestation supply chains and policies that are beneficial and of mutual benefit to all stakeholders.”

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