COP28 must not repeat the mistakes of the Africa Climate

Summit
aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/11/18/cop28-must-not-repeat-the-mistakes-of-the-africa-climate-summit

Sydney Chisi

OPINIONOPINION,
Opinions
Lobbyists for big emitters in the Global North must not be allowed to
push false solutions on COP28.

Sydney Chisi
Senior Campaign Manager at Equal Right

Published On 18 Nov 202318 Nov 2023

Kenya's President William Ruto addresses

delegates during the Africa Climate Summit
(ACS) 2023 at the Kenyatta International
Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, Kenya
on September 5, 2023 [File:
Reuters/Monicah Mwangi]
In late November, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference
(COP28) will be launched in Dubai. Coming at the end of a year which
broke multiple heat records, the event is supposed to set the stage for
a major push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost climate
change adaptation globally.

But ahead of the conference, there have already been warnings from
climate activists and civil society that unless there is a marked change
in the approach to climate policies, COP28 could fail to deliver any
meaningful progress.

In the Global South, there is persistent worry that wealthy nations and
international corporations will push for policies that allow them to
continue business as usual, with poorer nations, which are the least
responsible for climate change, bearing the brunt of the climate crisis.

Such tendencies have already been observed at previous climate

events, including most recently at the Africa Climate Summit held in
Nairobi in early September.

The conference, which gathered thousands of representatives from

governments, businesses, international organisations and civil society,
was a chance for African peoples to agree on a common position on
issues such as loss and damage compensation, climate mitigation and
climate finance ahead of COP28.

But the final document issued by the summit – the Nairobi Declaration
– did not reflect a consensus and the best interest of African nations.

This is not surprising, given that lobbyists for Global North countries
and corporations were given the space and high-level access to push
for false solutions. Meanwhile, many of the delegates – activists and
members of civil society calling for clarity and solutions to support our
continent – faced access difficulties during proceedings and were left
feeling sidelined.

As a result, instead of pushing for policies that would see the Global
North compensate African nations for its historic greenhouse gas
emissions, which have catalysed global warming, the summit
embraced policies that will further hurt African nations.

Its declaration focused heavily on – and legitimised – problematic

practices like carbon credits, offsetting, and trading.

These are false solutions and they are not what Africa needs. They
constitute a neocolonial tactic that allows the Global North to continue
to emit greenhouse gases whilе retaining control over African land and
people and taking the credit for African emissions reductions.

Carbon trading is based on the idea that emissions of carbon dioxide in

one place can be “offset” by expanding carbon capture activities in
another, such as planting new trees or protecting forests to allow for
their natural regeneration. This allows the big carbon emitters of the
Global North to pay nature-rich countries in the Global South to
preserve or expand forested areas.

But a lot of these areas are inhabited by local people who use forests
and land for their livelihoods and food. Carbon trading schemes
effectively banish the people from their homelands and dispossess
them of their rights in the name of preservation and carbon capture.

It has already been well-documented that such schemes are failing to

address rising carbon emissions and enable the greenwashing of rich
corporations and nations who refuse to reduce their emissions.
If carbon trading is not the solution, then how can the Global North
support African countries to finance loss and damage, adaptation and
mitigation?

Cap and share is one alternative model that is gaining popularity

among climate activists and civil society. The system centres around
an international carbon tax that would make polluters – including fossil
fuel extractors and major consumers – in the Global North pay.

This tax, applied to fossil fuel extraction, would raise trillions of dollars
a year for a global Green New Deal fund, which would finance the
transition to renewables and support energy access for all. The fund’s
income would also provide grants for loss and damage, adaptation and
mitigation in the Global South, as well as universal cash transfers to
support ordinary people.

Cap and share would establish a taxation system that operates beyond
the nation-state; doing so is key for climate justice and in many ways, it
is long overdue.

Modelling suggests that the economic effects of a global carbon tax

would be highly progressive, with Africa seeing substantial gains,
including the permanent eradication of extreme poverty in all
participating nations. This policy can be applied along with universal
basic income and tax justice measures.

As we move towards COP28, the mistakes of the Africa Climate

Summit and other similar climate events should not be repeated. The
voices of climate activists and civil society from the Global South need
to be heard.

We say no to carbon markets. We say no to selling Africa’s carbon,

forests, and land to the North. We say yes to climate justice, and to
climate finance that comes without strings attached.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not
necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.