{"id":6529,"date":"2023-05-29T04:57:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T04:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.powershiftafrica.org\/press-releases\/new-report-details-how-africa-can-develop-sustainably-collaboratively"},"modified":"2026-08-26T14:31:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:31:59","slug":"new-report-details-how-africa-can-develop-sustainably-collaboratively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/press-releases\/new-report-details-how-africa-can-develop-sustainably-collaboratively\/","title":{"rendered":"Un nouveau rapport d\u00e9taille comment l'Afrique peut se d\u00e9velopper de mani\u00e8re durable et collaborative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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While Africa continues to suffer the destructive effects of climate change [and numerous other crises], a new report shows how the continent can embark on an African Just Transition that strengthens food and energy infrastructure and sets out a more resilient and just development path.\u00a0This report was co-authored by a collective of independent experts under the leadership of Dr. Youba Sokona, Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and one of Africa\u2019s most senior experts on climate, energy, and development. \u00a0\u00a0It carries a foreword by President William Ruto of Kenya, who states: \u201cI believe by becoming more assertive and pursuing a climate and development agenda through unified approaches of the kind outlined in this report, Africa will be able to mitigate the climate emergency and propel itself to prosperity.\u201d\u00a0The report highlights ways in which Pan-African collaboration can anchor the continent on a new path of development and just transition, by exploiting its huge renewable energy, food sovereignty and development potential.\u00a0It asserts: \u201cChange provides opportunities for Africa to control its own future. Achieving a better future will require unprecedented strategic vision \u2014 one that is rooted in Africa\u2019s shared history, responsive to its tremendous potential and articulated with confidence.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0It anchors its analysis by examining how climate change, misguided development policies and colonial dependencies have locked African countries into perpetual traps, including external debt. \u00a0\u00a0It highlights three structural traps facing Africa, namely:\u00a0\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Food insecurity, food imports and undernutrition\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Energy poverty created by inappropriate fossil-fuel based systems\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Failed or ineffectual industrial strategies\u00a0These traps must be addressed by: \u00a0\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A transition to food sovereignty through agroecology\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A just energy transition to people-centered, 100% renewable energy systems\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pan-African industrial policies that harness the continent\u2019s resources while caring for its people and environment.\u00a0The report is a wakeup call for African leaders to the effect that \u201cwithout renewal of its strategic vision, the continent will remain a site of contestation by other global powers seeking to control its resources, markets and institutions.\u201d\u00a0Further, President Ruto states that: \u201cRealizing the continent\u2019s potential requires bold, new approaches matched to the magnitude of the existential challenge posed by climate change which affects the continent disproportionately. These bold actions must be coupled with a strong sense of urgency and avoid pitfalls and traps of maldevelopment pathways which have previously held back the continent. Replicating mistakes of the past and expecting new results is not an option.\u201d\u00a0The report\u2019s findings build on more than a decade of collaboration and experience by the co-authors that includes building institutions and formulating major regional and continental level initiatives in relation to climate, energy, and development.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Key messages include: \u00a0\u00a0Food Sovereignty \u00a0<\/strong>Africa is a net importer of food, with emphasis on high-cost, high pollutant cash crops. To change this, African countries need to switch to agroecological practices that promote food sovereignty, and conserve biodiversity, local varieties, and local knowledge.\u00a0This approach will provide more sustainable food production and secure livelihoods while protecting smallholder farming communities and strengthening local and territorial markets. It will also reduce the external debt burden. \u00a0\u00a0Energy poverty<\/strong>More than 600 million Africans are energy poor. But the continent also has an opportunity to bypass the dirty energy infrastructure of fossil fuels which have polluted the planet and triggered climate change.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Countries can adopt cleaner, cheaper, and more agile renewable energy forms to power Africa in the 21st Century. Africa bypassed the landline telephone technology and jumped straight to cell phones. Similarly, we can leapfrog the fossil fuel-dependent development model to modern, people-centered renewable energy systems.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The report warns against the Global North\u2019s tragic obsession with dirty energy, which has left Africans at the mercy of the impacts of the climate crisis.\u00a0By pooling African energy networks and prioritizing renewables, the continent can become a clean energy superpower while avoiding the trap of old, centralized fossil fuel infrastructure that worsens the climate crisis.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0A Pan-African industrial approach<\/strong>The authors of the report urge African leaders to break out of the post-colonial trap of prioritizing extractive industries, simple assembly-line manufacturing and low-value-added exports to foreign countries.\u00a0Instead, they should develop internal African markets and formulate strategic partnerships and trade relations on Pan-African terms that can create economies of scale for new, socially and environmentally appropriate African industries. \u00a0\u00a0The report argues that Pan-African industrial policies are vital for helping Africa break free from the role of \u2018sub-contracting\u2019 to the Global North. This will in turn make it possible to build productive systems that generate opportunities for Africans to ensure that the continent\u2019s wealth of resources benefits its people.\u00a0Just transition and development<\/strong>The report emphasizes that Africa can and must formulate a vision of \u2018Just Transition\u2019 that is rooted in a deep interrogation of what \u2018development\u2019 entails and one that prioritizes humans rights and well-being. This means reassessing past \u2018another development\u2019 visions and that sufficiency and equity must be at the core of all development efforts. \u00a0\u00a0The report also states that it is not possible for the whole world to use resources at the current level of wealthy countries and elites. A Just Transition must entail a global convergence of energy and material use that focuses on\/considers degrowth for those overconsuming. \u00a0\u00a0A just transition also means reparations and provision of necessary financial support to African and other developing countries at scale and on par with the needs. The current net flow of resources from the Global South to the Global North must be immediately reversed. \u00a0\u00a0—-\u00a0The collective of independent experts co-authoring the report includes Youba Sokona (Vice-Chair IPCC), Yacob Mulugetta (University College London), Meron Tesfamichael (University College of London), Fadhel Kaboub (Denison University and Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity), Niclas H\u00e4llstr\u00f6m (WhatNext?), Matthew Stilwell (Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development), Mohamed Adow (Power Shift Africa), and Colin Besaans (Power Shift Africa). \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quotes\u00a0Dr. Youba Sokona, Vice-Chair of the IPCC, said:<\/strong>\u201cAfrica is at an energy crossroads. Will the continent follow in the footsteps of its former colonisers who burned millions of tonnes of fossil fuel that polluted the planet? Or will it follow a different path? We can show the world that development in the 21st Century can be different from that of the 20th Century. We must establish policies that prioritize renewables and leave fossil fuels in the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tasneem Essop, Executive Director, Climate Action Network International, said:<\/strong>\u201cIs a better Africa possible? A question usually met with Afro-pessimism, stereotypical tropes, and ahistorical analysis. Now, with this pathbreaking Report, that is intellectually inspiring, technically robust, and practically feasible, we can find optimism that, as Africans, we can achieve a better life for all. The Report helps us understand how the current challenges and the interconnected multiple crises facing Africa today finds its roots in the historical context of colonialism and extractivism, it explores the structural legacies that continue and presents achievable proposals for an alternative development path for Africa that addresses the nexus between climate, energy and development. While focusing on Africa, this Report will also contribute immensely to the global discourse on alternative models of development, both in the Global South and North. We need courageous and visionary leadership, matched with the hopes and aspirations of masses of our people to get us on this path to a just, equitable and safe future\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yacob Mulugetta, University College London, said:<\/strong>\u201cAfrican countries need to pool their physical and technical resources together. Building and sharing knowledge is key. They must also unite in holding the Global North to account on their pledge to provide climate finance, and challenge the global finance architecture. Collectively, they must push for greater reforms of international financial institutions in a bid to unlock a wave of infrastructural developments in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meron Tesfamichael, University College London, said:<\/strong>\u2018\u2018Due to their high dependence on agroecosystems for livelihoods and inadequate infrastructure, communities across Africa are vulnerable to climate shocks and stresses. Building resilience and meeting these challenges depends on countries\u2019 ability to strengthen their food and energy systems and to promote an inclusive and equitable development path. However, this demands countries projecting a vision of a just transition that is pro-people and built on the principles of social justice.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fadhel Kaboub, Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, said:<\/strong>“Africa’s external debt trap can only be addressed via transformative long-term strategies focused on food sovereignty, renewable energy sovereignty, and a pan-African high value-added industrial policy. This report urges African leaders to acknowledge that our climate, energy, and development policies are inextricably connected, and therefore a comprehensive and coherent pan-African vision by and from African is critical for meeting the aspirations of our people and achieving a just, sustainable, and prosperous future for Africa.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth Press, Director of Planning and Programme Support, IRENA, said:<\/strong>\u201cA renewables-based energy system presents a transformational opportunity for Africa. IRENA estimates that such a path would result in a GDP 6.5% higher than the current plans. Getting there is a matter of structures, plans and finance but also mindsets. This report offers critical input to the energy and development debate in Africa and the forthcoming Africa Climate Summit.\u201d\u00a0Mohamed Adow, Power Shift Africa Director, said:<\/strong>\u201cThe global race to become leaders in renewable energy is about to explode and the African people can benefit from this abundant and increasingly cheap form of power. To be able to capitalize on this opportunity, however, African leaders must take a Pan-African approach by working together. Other countries are mobilising resources to push forward support for green industries; the US, EU and China have all announced packages of support in recent months. African leaders would be wise to develop their own, pan-African support plan for accelerating the clean energy revolution.\u201d\u00a0Niclas H\u00e4llstr\u00f6m, WhatNext? said: \u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThis report spells out a bold development vision from Africa, which shows that there are still no truly \u2018developed\u2019 countries anywhere. All countries need to be guided by a vision that meets everyone\u2019s needs in a just and sustainable way. This means that wealthy countries need to decrease their energy and material consumption. It also means African countries can take charge of their development agenda with renewable energy and economic policies that genuinely serves the interests of their people, as shown by the African experts in this report.\u201d\u00a0Ali Mohamed, Climate Change Envoy, Kenya<\/strong>\u2018\u2018By securing the first-ever loss and damage fund to support Global South communities driven into destitution by effects of the climate crisis, African leaders attending last year\u2019s COP27 in Egypt demonstrated their profound unity of purpose. We need to see this unified approach in tackling Africa\u2019s developmental challenges for the continent to maximize its possibilities and cement its place in the global arena.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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