Parliamentarians from across Africa, led by Nigerian Senator, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has called on G7 countries to show more commitment in supporting African countries who are in dire need of finance to fight the climate change crisis and tap into the continent’s abundant renewable energy potential.
The MPs made their request known in a letter to addressed to G7 leaders, through Italian Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni, host of the 2024 G7 Summit held from June 13 to 15, 2024.
In the letter signed by 50 African MPs, they described Africa as “a swing continent on the world’s path to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5℃ limit,” holding the world’s largest potential in renewable energy.
According to the MPs, despite this strategic position of Africa, the continent cannot harness this enormous potential as it desperately lacks the financial resources and technology to translate raw potentials to energy.
The MPs pointed out the inequality in accessing climate change finance, lamenting that of the $495 billion invested in renewable energy globally in 2022, Africa received only 0.8% between 2000 and 2020. The continent has further attracted only 2% of global renewables investment. They described this as unjust in the light of the fact that the climate crisis was caused by the industrial economies.
Senator Abaribe, in voicing his support, stressed that developed countries bear a moral obligation to address these disparities, given their historic contribution to the climate crisis.
“It is not only a moral responsibility of the G7 to lend its voice to a restructuring of the international financial architecture…it is indeed the just thing to do,” he stated, adding that it is unsustainable to be voting billions of dollars for wars while neglecting things that can prevent them.
Lending her voice, Egyptian MP, Sahar Al Bazar, added that “this support is crucial for fostering sustainable development, ensuring economic stability and addressing Africa’s pressing energy challenges.”
In their appeal, the MPs outlined three key requests to the G7: support for debt forgiveness for African countries; assistance in reforming the financial architecture burdening African nations; and an urgency for the G7 to deliver on their climate and finance commitments to developing countries, stating that they expect the G7 to lead the global energy transition by committing more stringent climate plans and unlocking finances for poorer nations, adding that it is in their interest to invest in powering Africa’s energy potential.
Furthermore, the MPs restated their commitment to the energy transition by ensuring that key provisions are included in their countries’ budgets to finance clean energy.
The 50th G7 meeting took place in Fasano in Apulia, Italy, with part of the decisions being the commitment of the body to the launch of the G7’s “Energy for Growth in Africa” initiative.
