Between 2016, following the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement, and June 2021, public and private financial institutions poured at least $132 billion in lending and underwriting into 964 gas, oil and coal projects in West, East, Central and Southern Africa. The vast majority of this finance came from financial institutions based outside Africa, both commercial banks and public institutions such as development banks and Export Credit Agencies.
Africa
New Report: At least $132 billion in finance for fossil fuels is locking Africa out of a Just Transition
Between 2016, following the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement, and June 2021, public and private financial institutions poured at least $132 billion in lending and underwriting into 964 gas, oil and coal projects in West, East, Central and Southern Africa. The vast majority of this finance came from financial institutions based outside Africa, both commercial banks and public finance institutions like development banks and export credit agencies.
The Sky’s Limit Africa: The Case for a Just Energy Transition from Fossil Fuel Production in Africa
The Sky’s Limit Africa assesses fossil fuel industry plans to sink USD $230 billion into the development of new extraction projects in Africa in the next decade — and USD $1.4 trillion by 2050. It finds these projects are not compatible with a safe climate future and that they are at risk of becoming stranded assets that leave behind unfunded clean-up, shortfalls of government revenue, and overnight job losses.
Report: USD 1.4 trillion fossil fuel buildout jeopardizes Africa’s economies, climate, and communities
New analysis details why a just energy transition in Africa requires an end to new oil, gas, and coal extraction projects
Climate Momentum: More banks pull out of controversial East African pipeline
Under pressure from civil society, eleven banks have now confirmed that they will no longer fund the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
Biden’s climate diplomacy mustn’t turn a blind eye to Big Oil’s “dirty footprints” in Africa
When President Joe Biden signed his first set of Executive Orders on Climate Change and cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline project soon after his inauguration, he sent a very clear message to the global fossil fuel industry: it’s no longer going to be business-as-usual with fighting the existential threat that climate change poses to humanity.
Distributed Funds for Distributed Renewable Energy: Ensuring African Energy Access Finance Reaches Local Actors
Communities in Africa have generally contributed the least to climate change, been undermined the most by international trade and finance policies, and have a right to better international support for distributed renewable energy. In order to reach universal energy access before the 2030 target set by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, international public finance institutions have an urgent responsibility to provide more funding and better financial transparency and tracking for distributed renewable energy. Additionally, they have a responsibility to foster local participation in and ownership of distributed renewable energy initiatives. This briefing provides recommendations for how international public finance institutions can fulfill this responsibility, while revealing that from 2016 to 2018, fossil fuels received more than 3.5 times the support than all kinds of renewable energy did during this period.
Briefing: Overseas players should not dominate distributed renewable energy sector in Africa
A new briefing released by Oil Change International details how the growth of distributed renewable energy in Africa has so far failed to include locally-owned companies and initiatives. The sector has been growing rapidly since 2013 — especially for companies focused on “pay-as-you-go” solar home systems — but finance has overwhelmingly only been accessible for multinational companies that are based in Europe or North America or led by entrepreneurs from these regions, meaning profits are largely not remaining in Africa.
Communiqué of the 2020 Africa Energy Leaders Summit
In January 2020, organizations, networks and community resistance groups from Africa and around the world deliberated on issues including fossil fuels dependence, climate change, energy access and the just transition. Following two days of discussions, they released the following communiqué.
The African Development Bank and Energy Access Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa
A new analysis of the energy finance provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB) shows that while financing for clean energy access has increased since the bank’s landmark New Deal on Energy for Africa, support for off-grid and mini-grid solutions — often the fastest and most affordable energy access solutions — must accelerate if Africa is to realize universal energy access by 2030.