COP27 was billed as “the African COP”, and for all its failures to reach global agreements, the creation of a loss and damage fund from the conference may yet succeed in helping the African continent transition to renewables.
The loss and damage fund will increase investment from rich countries to help developing nations adapt to climate change while supporting clean energy. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates the energy transition will require $5.7 trillion of investment each year until 2030 to keep a 1.5 degree scenario alive.
That’s a hefty price tag well out of reach for many developing countries, and the loss and damage regime will be essential in reaching those goals. But the details of the agreement have been left for upcoming negotiations leading into COP28 next year.
African countries are at a critical fork in the road in their respective energy transitions. How the post-COP27 negotiations play out will determine which of two competing visions for climate action will win in Africa.
One possibility for Africa’s transition will be to follow the European model of building out fossil fuels as a stepping stone toward renewables.
EU climate chief Frans Timmermans indicated support for this path at COP27 when he said “renewable energy needs to play a key role, but I also believe that gas can play a transitional role.”
That seemed like a contradiction coming from the official who pushed emerging economies like China for firm carbon drawdown commitments while simultaneously endorsing the expansion of one of the most harmful fossil fuels.
But in the context of Europe’s energy crisis, the message seemed all too clear to some African activists: don’t build out fossil fuel infrastructure except when Europe needs them to solve an unforeseen energy crisis.
It also raised some eyebrows because building out more fossil fuels means more loss and damage in the future. Which led some African leaders to wonder: If rich countries are hesitant to pay for those impacts now, can Africa really expect them to be more willing to pay up when harsher and more expensive impacts arrive in the future?
Besides those political concerns, leaning on natural methane gas (or fossil gas, if you prefer) to help Africa transition to renewables poses an economic dilemma. What happens in a few years when, having met its short-term energy needs with African gas, Europe follows through with a switch to renewables and no longer needs gas?
In that scenario, countries like Mozambique could be left with billions of dollars’ worth of stranded assets.
Mozambique is currently one of the world’s smallest producers of methane gas but is sitting on the third-largest untapped reserves in Africa. Mozambique currently supplies 70% of its power from hydroelectric, a proven renewable energy source. However, those resources only reach 30% of its people.
Incoming loss and damage funds from the loss and damage fund will play a decisive role in determining which of the two sources plays a bigger role as Mozambique expands energy accessibility to the 70% of its people that currently live in energy poverty.
The prospect of building multi-billion-dollar albatross that will continue emitting decades into the future seems incompatible with long-term climate goals and economic development. But if Timmermans’ words are any indication, they could be the most likely short-term outcome.
Fortunately, several African countries are already leveraging international funds for some of the most promising renewable technologies on the planet.
Changes to international finance proposed as part of the loss and damage scheme at COP27 could vault these projects to the front of Africa’s transition and make it easier for other countries to follow.
Take Ethiopia, where 96% of the country’s electricity comes from hydroelectric dams. At first glance, that’s an enviable renewable energy portfolio compared to almost any other country. But it still represents an overreliance on a single source, which is why Ethiopian officials sought and received $184 million from the World Bank to begin a 70 MW geothermal plant at the Aluto-Langan Power Station.
Projects like that have allowed Ethiopia to become energy exporters to neighboring Kenya without extracting a drop of oil or liquid natural gas.
Kenya is building out its own geothermal resources, prompting President William Ruto to suggest Africa should leapfrog fossil fuels altogether and grow its economies on renewables alone.
It’s an exciting prospect but will only be possible if future loss and damage funds prioritize the Kenyan/Ethiopian model over gas projects.
To be clear, these renewable projects carry climate justice risks of their own. A report from earlier this year documented several cases of land disputes and human rights violations tied to wind and geothermal projects in Kenya. Hundreds of people have reported being ejected from their homes to make way for renewables.
International funding will be key for these transformations, but a third alternative may call for a return to forgotten traditions.
Architects in West Africa are rediscovering the virtues of mud huts to stay cool without the use of air conditioning. The mixture of clay and reinforced materials allows mud buildings to stay several degrees cooler than concrete. Concrete is a favored building material in Africa since so many countries have local production capacity, but these contribute significantly to Africa’s carbon footprint.
Contrary to popular belief, traditional mud huts with vaulted ceilings can withstand rain and as well as concrete structures when built properly.
At the same time, West African farmers are growing more fonio, a healthy and especially drought-resistant grain that features in traditional cuisine going back 5,000 years.
Check out some of the latest featured jobs below. If you don't see anything that speaks to you, you can always go to Climatebase to explore thousands of other opportunities.
"Carbonfuture makes carbon removal from the atmosphere simple, trustworthy, and scalable. Our digital platform and financial services enable a new class of scientifically defensible carbon removal credits while unlocking a path to financial scale for carbon removal businesses globally. ..."
Harvard University Center for the Environment
"The Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) encourages research and education about the environment and its many interactions with human society. ..."
"AgriCapture is a mission-driven company that certifies Climate-Friendly practices on farms, ranchlands and grasslands and quantifies associated emissions reductions, enabling growers, ranchers and landowners to generate revenue for their sustainable management practices. ..."
"Spoiler Alert is a Boston-based software company helping perishable CPG brands manage excess and slow-moving inventory. Working exclusively at the manufacturing plant or distribution center level, Spoiler Alert offers a best-in-class B2B sales platform that enables food & beverage brands to manage their liquidation processes across a private network of discount retailers and nonprofit channels - with a heavy focus ..."
"Climate modeling at the speed of energy markets ..."
"Future makes it easier for people to take meaningful action to fight climate change and reduce emissions, giving them incentives to do the right thing. ..."
"Gradient’s mission is to cool the world by transforming every home to be more comfortable and healthy for the people who inhabit it — without compromising the environment. ..."
"Sequoia Climate Foundation is a new philanthropy that seeks to decarbonize the world economy at a speed and scale equal to the challenge. We support bold strategies and efforts that will have both near-term impact and the greatest probability of long-term success. ..."
"Altus Thermal is a Boston-based startup rethinking home energy use. We’re developing a smart hardware product that will drive higher efficiency, provide greater comfort, deliver a more modern user experience, and increase benefits to the electrical grid. ..."
"AeroShield is making the next generation of energy-efficient windows possible by manufacturing the first ultra-clear, super-insulating aerogel sheets. Windows are critical elements of comfort and productivity, but in the United States they cost $40 billion in heating and cooling energy. ..."
"NCX helps mission-driven companies buy carbon credits from forest owners. Based on a decade of work with America's largest landowners, our data-driven platform brings gigatons of new carbon offsets to market. ..."
"Earthmover is an all-remote, early-stage startup whose mission is to empower our customers to use scientific data to address our planet’s most urgent challenges. We’re building a new data platform for multidimensional arrays with metadata based on open standards and open source software. ..."
"Agritecture is an advisory services and technology firm focused on climate-smart agriculture, particularly urban and controlled environment agriculture (CEA). Our mission is to accelerate and empower the transition to smarter, more resilient agriculture. ..."
"We provide carbon footprint management products that enable individuals and businesses to measure, reduce and offset their impact on the climate."
"Supercharging commercial EV adoption via software to connect vehicles, chargers, and utilities. ..."
"Scale Microgrid Solutions (“Scale”) is a fully integrated distributed energy platform focused on designing, implementing and financing innovative distributed clean energy solutions. Through its leading technical expertise and access to scale capital, Scale helps its customers transition to a decentralized energy future by providing and financing sustainable, cost-effective, and resilient power solutions. ..."
"The Ad Hoc Group, Inc. is a mission-driven growth consultancy that helps startups, investors and other innovators build successful climate tech and sustainability-focused businesses. ..."
"Asset Resolution (AR)'s vision is of a financial sector that empowers the global economy to take decisive action in line with the climate transition. Our mission is to optimize the accessibility and use of physical asset-level data for climate analysis by financial institutions. ..."
"Carbon180 is a new breed of climate-focused NGO on a mission to fundamentally rethink carbon. We know that our climate goals can only be met by rapidly reducing emissions and removing the carbon that already exists in our atmosphere. ..."
That's it for this week! Remember, you can always view thousands of more jobs on Climatebase.org.
Final reminders...
👋 Get discovered. Complete your profile to be seen by hundreds of employers hiring on Climatebase.
🚀 Accelerate your climate career. Apply to join the Climatebase Fellowship.
🌱 Hiring? Post your jobs to reach tens-of-thousands of Climatebase users and over 30,000 weekly newsletter subscribers.
👋 New here? Subscribe!
❤️️ Share a link to this week's edition
🐦 Let's connect! Follow us on Twitter @Climatebase, and our co-founders @evandhynes and @jhardin925
In today's edition of This Week in Climate, we dive into the new Global Carbon Project report on methane and how climate tech is trying to tackle the problem.
A new report shows that climate policies alone aren’t enough to move the needle on climate change.
We sat down with Will Wiseman, the CEO and co-founder of Climatize, a climate tech start-up that offers an innovative way for everyday people to invest in real-life solar projects. Here's how the company is working to democratize climate technology.
In today's edition of This Week in Climate we take a look at the exponential growth in clean energy jobs in the past two years.
In today's edition of This Week in Climate we dive back into legislation and climate cases that are hung up as a result of the Supreme Court's rulings.