‘We’re not Europe’s gas station’, African climate advocate tells EU

A leading advocate for Africa’s renewable energy transition is condemning Germany and Italy for pushing to “saddle” African countries with new fossil fuel infrastructure that will drag down their economies.

“We must respond with a firm no, and instead demand that European countries support us in the development of renewable energy systems,” says Mohamed Adow, Director of the Nairobi-based think tank Power Shift Africa.

Germany and Italy have been working to secure new gas deals with fossil fuel-rich African countries as part of their strategy to wean themselves from Russian oil. Italy has reached deals with Algeria, Angola, Egypt, and the Republic of the Congo, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz—in his first official trip to the continent—announced in Senegal his intent to pursue energy projects “intensively”. German talks with Senegal leaders have already begun, with Scholz “expressing willingness to offer technical investments in power plant infrastructure in Senegal,” Adow writes for Project Syndicate.