The number of people around the world who live without electricity is set to rise by nearly 20 million this year. This will be the first global increase in the last two decades and the rise will mainly be in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of people without electricity is nearly back to its 2013 peak, according to the International Energy Agency.
Speaking at a side event at the 27th United Nations Climate Conference, or COP 27, representatives from energy ministries in African states identified the continent's natural gas resources as a possible solution to this crisis.
Maggy Shino, petroleum commissioner at Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy said the continent has been in an energy crisis for long enough, and “Africans need to be unapologetically ready to fight so that we can be able to provide a solution.”
“Africa is known to be in a position where sometimes you are being dictated on what to do with our resources,” she said. She added that Namibia plans to forge ahead and exploit its fossil fuel resources and aims to create a conducive environment for investment through a development program that is conscious of the energy crisis and the obligation to decarbonize.
“We have energy poverty and it's our aim that we are going to end this poverty by using [our] gas,” she said.
Roughly 13% of the world's natural gas reserves are in Africa and the continent could provide some 30 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe by the end of the decade. But analysts say a massive global gas expansion could compromise the drive to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In the lead-up to COP 27, African nations finalized their common position on key issues which include a “just” energy transition that allows them to increase their energy consumption, through both renewable and nonrenewable sources.
At COP 27, Macky Sall, president of Senegal and chairperson of the African Union, said Africa is “for a green transition that is equitable and just, instead of decisions that jeopardize our development, including universal access to electricity to which 600 million Africans remain deprived."
At the side event, Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, said Africa currently contributes only 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. He said if the continent were to use all its natural gas resources for development, this figure would only grow to 3.4%, “which is nothing.”
Papa Samba Ba, a technical advisor with the Ministry of Petroleum and Energies in Senegal, added that Africa should use all available options — including natural gas — to expand access to energy and they should use the current geopolitical climate to secure financing.
“Last year no one dared to discuss about fossil fuel or natural gas,” he said. “The position has changed. Because there is a war in Europe, the mind has changed.” He added that energy policy should not only be oriented to the West, but should also take the African continent's needs into account.
Senegal's gas reserves account for 0.5% of world reserves. The country plans to start exporting gas in 2023 through a partnership with BP and Kosmos Energy, he said.
But Jürgen Zattler, director-general at the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, questioned whether gas was the best approach.
He agreed that African countries should decide how to provide electricity for the nearly 600 million people who currently do not have access, but he said countries should also ask themselves “what is the best way?”
He said that if countries restructure their power sectors and move to renewable energy earlier, they will have better outcomes. “Our scenarios tell us the peak of gas will be in two or three years, perhaps four years,” he said.
According to Climate Tracker, development strategies that rely on natural gas production and exports are risky, because the world is transitioning to zero emissions. Their research shows that fossil fuel exporters in Africa experience slower economic growth compared to other countries on the continent and they recommend focusing on renewable energy resources — such as wind and solar — to supply the continent’s energy demands.
In an open letter to African heads of state, the Don’t Gas Africa campaign said “the ‘dash for gas’ in Africa is dangerous and short-sighted” and may threaten investments into renewable energy.
“Rather than provide Europe with more climate-damaging fossil fuels, Africa’s development agenda and the climate emergency call on us to rapidly shift away from harmful fossil fuels-based technologies towards a renewable energy future,” the letter stated.
Speaking at a Devex event Ibrahim Thiaw, under-secretary-general and executive secretary at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, warned that the African continent may become the biggest contributor to emissions — because of its fast-growing population that will need energy — if they do not harness their renewable energy resources.
“The question is not whether or not they will have access to energy. The question is what kind of energy they will be having access to,” he said. “If we are not careful, you ... may be seeing the next big emitter coming unexpectedly from a region that is emitting the least at the moment.”