https://sputnikglobe.com/20221031/us-has-spent-9-billion-on-african-gas-projects-it-then-condemns-for-polluting---report-1102896600.html
US Has Spent $9 Billion on African Gas Projects it Then Condemns For Polluting - Report
US Has Spent $9 Billion on African Gas Projects it Then Condemns For Polluting - Report
Sputnik International
Although the United States is the world’s largest per capita polluter on the planet, it has also postured itself as the leader of the global transition to a... 31.10.2022, Sputnik International
2022-10-31T21:04+0000
2022-10-31T21:04+0000
2022-11-15T14:20+0000
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Since signing the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 to reduce carbon emissions, the US government has invested more than $9 billion into carbon-emitting oil and gas projects in Africa that the Paris agreement was intended to bring to an end, according to a tally by a British media outlet.When it comes to the US government’s Export-Import Bank, in that same time period the US has spent 51 times as much money on fossil fuel projects in Africa as it has on renewable energy projects there. That includes coal mining in South Africa, oil drilling in Nigeria, and gas extraction in Mozambique.Kate DeAngelis, international finance program manager at Friends of the Earth, said that at first, she was “thrilled” with the Biden administration’s December 2021 promise that it would end investments in carbon-intensive fossil fuel-based energy projects and sponsor a new generation of renewable energy sources.“It’s been frustrating and tiresome to see so many opportunities lost to transition away from fossil fuels,” DeAngelis added. “It’s just business as usual. We are seeing some of the most vulnerable communities in Africa be negatively impacted and they don’t have a voice.”The issue is not necessarily the dramatic exacerbation of climate change thanks to the projects: although the continent is home to 15% of humanity, it is responsible for just 3.8% of global carbon emissions. Rather, it is that while pushing such projects ahead, the US is also condemning African nations for those very same projects and demanding they transition to renewable energy sources. By contrast, 20 nations are responsible for 80% of the world’s carbon emissions - and not one of them is African.That has led some of the world’s poorest nations, many of which are African and nearly all of which are former European colonies, to begin demanding that the world’s most pollutive countries help them finance a green energy transition as well as compensate them for the climate change-related damages they have suffered in storms, floods, and other disasters.“Well guess what, folks? Mother Nature does not measure where the emissions come from. They don't have a label of one country or another on them,” Kerry said. “They are from all of the choices we make about how we move our vehicles, how we heat our homes, how we light our businesses.”Western governments and media have also attacked China for continuing to invest in fossil fuel projects, including in Africa. The claims have been made especially as part of a narrative that China is colonizing Africa just like Europeans did, to exploit the continent’s natural resources and ravage their societies. By contrast, China’s refusal to meddle in the internal affairs of other nations has served as a cornerstone of its relations with African nations, including joint infrastructure projects made via the Belt and Road Initiative.
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climate change, gas, us, investment, southern africa, sub-saharan africa, oil
climate change, gas, us, investment, southern africa, sub-saharan africa, oil
US Has Spent $9 Billion on African Gas Projects it Then Condemns For Polluting - Report
21:04 GMT 31.10.2022 (Updated: 14:20 GMT 15.11.2022) Although the United States is the world’s largest per capita polluter on the planet, it has also postured itself as the leader of the global transition to a society powered by renewable and pollution-free energy sources. Its policies tell a different story.
Since signing the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 to reduce carbon emissions, the US government has invested more than $9 billion into carbon-emitting oil and gas projects in Africa that the Paris agreement was intended to bring to an end, according to a tally by a British media outlet.
When it comes to the US government’s Export-Import Bank, in that same time period the US has spent 51 times as much money on fossil fuel projects in Africa as it has on renewable energy projects there. That includes coal mining in South Africa, oil drilling in Nigeria, and gas extraction in Mozambique.
Kate DeAngelis, international finance program manager at Friends of the Earth, said that at first, she was “thrilled” with the Biden administration’s
December 2021 promise that it would end investments in carbon-intensive fossil fuel-based energy projects and sponsor a new generation of renewable energy sources.
“[B]ut over the last two years it's been a slow walk back to the point where you couldn’t tell the difference between Biden and Trump on overseas fossil fuel finance,” she said.
“It’s been frustrating and tiresome to see so many opportunities lost to transition away from fossil fuels,” DeAngelis added. “It’s just business as usual. We are seeing some of the most vulnerable communities in Africa be negatively impacted and they don’t have a voice.”
The issue is not necessarily the dramatic exacerbation of climate change thanks to the projects: although the continent is home to 15% of humanity, it is
responsible for just 3.8% of global carbon emissions. Rather, it is that while pushing such projects ahead, the US is also condemning African nations for those very same projects and demanding they transition to renewable energy sources. By contrast, 20 nations are responsible for 80% of the world’s carbon emissions - and not one of them is African.
That has led some of the world’s poorest nations, many of which are African and nearly all of which are former European colonies, to begin demanding that the world’s most pollutive countries
help them finance a green energy transition
as well as compensate them for the climate change-related damages they have suffered in storms, floods, and other disasters.
"But others, despite what the science is saying, hold back, saying, pointing the finger elsewhere, ‘You guys create it, you guys have to cure it,’” John Kerry, the Biden administration’s climate envoy,
told a group of 45 of the world’s poorest nations at a climate summit in Dakar, Senegal, in September.
“Well guess what, folks? Mother Nature does not measure where the emissions come from. They don't have a label of one country or another on them,” Kerry said. “They are from all of the choices we make about how we move our vehicles, how we heat our homes, how we light our businesses.”
Western governments and
media have also attacked China for continuing to invest in fossil fuel projects, including in Africa. The claims have been made especially
as part of a narrative that China is colonizing Africa
just like Europeans did, to exploit the continent’s natural resources and ravage their societies. By contrast, China’s refusal to meddle in the internal affairs of other nations has served as a cornerstone of its relations with African nations, including joint infrastructure projects made via the Belt and Road Initiative.
