It’s crucial that COP28 does not fall into the same pitfalls as the Africa Climate Summit, particularly regarding the influence of powerful emitters from the Global North advocating ineffective strategies.
Scheduled to begin in Dubai in late November 2023, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) arrives at a critical time, following a year marked by unprecedented heatwaves. This conference is expected to be a turning point in intensifying efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions and enhance global adaptation to climate change.
However, there’s a growing concern among environmental activists and various social groups that, unless there’s a significant shift in climate policy strategy, COP28 might not achieve significant advancements.
In the Global South, there’s an ongoing fear that affluent countries and multinational companies will promote policies that enable them to maintain their current operations, leaving the economically disadvantaged countries, which contribute the least to climate change, to bear the greatest impact of the crisis.
This trend was evident in past climate conferences, including the recent Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi in early September.
This summit brought together thousands from government, business sectors, international bodies, and social groups. It was an opportunity for African nations to unify their stance on critical matters such as compensation for climate-related losses and damages, climate mitigation, and funding, ahead of COP28.
Nevertheless, the summit’s outcome, encapsulated in the Nairobi Declaration, fell short of representing a unified voice and the best interests of African countries.
This outcome isn’t shocking, considering the amount of influence exerted by lobbyists from the Global North’s countries and corporations, promoting ineffective solutions. Simultaneously, many attendees—activists and civil society members advocating for clear and supportive solutions for the continent—experienced restricted participation, feeling marginalized during the event.
As a consequence, the summit leaned towards policies that could further disadvantage African nations instead of advocating for the Global North to compensate for their significant historical greenhouse gas emissions that have accelerated global warming. The Nairobi Declaration emphasized controversial methods such as carbon credits, offsetting, and trading, which are inadequate for Africa’s needs.
These methods, seen as a form of neocolonialism, allow the Global North to continue emitting greenhouse gases while controlling African lands and people, and claiming credit for emission reductions in Africa.
Carbon trading, for instance, is based on the concept that carbon emissions in one area can be compensated by enhancing carbon capture in another area, like forest conservation or reforestation. This model often leads to local communities being displaced from their lands in the name of carbon capture and preservation, while failing to curb rising carbon emissions and enabling the greenwashing of wealthy nations and corporations.
With carbon trading not being a viable solution, the question arises: how can the Global North assist African countries in financing loss and damage, adaptation, and mitigation?
The cap and share model, increasingly popular among environmental activists and social groups, offers a promising alternative. This approach involves an international carbon tax imposed on fossil fuel extraction, generating significant revenue for a global Green New Deal fund. This fund would support the shift to renewable energy and ensure energy access for all. Additionally, it would finance grants for loss and damage, adaptation, and mitigation in the Global South, along with providing universal cash transfers.
The cap and share model represents a tax system that transcends national borders, essential for achieving climate justice. Economic models suggest that such a tax would be progressively beneficial, particularly for Africa, potentially eradicating extreme poverty in participating countries. This policy could complement other strategies like universal basic income and tax fairness initiatives.
As COP28 approaches, it’s crucial to avoid the errors made at the Africa Climate Summit and similar events. The perspectives of climate activists and civil society from the Global South must be prioritized.
We advocate for rejecting carbon markets and the commodification of Africa’s carbon, forests, and lands. We champion climate justice and unconditioned climate finance, essential steps towards a more equitable and sustainable future.
