Oil Week Conference Highlights Climate Conflict in Africa

Climate protests are becoming increasingly common worldwide. (Wikimedia Commons)

Protesters adorned in red garb went largely ignored as they poured a trail of fake blood on the floor of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, the venue for the Africa Oil Week (AOW) conference, an international meeting about fossil fuels, according to reporting by GroundUp. The conference brought more than 1,800 oil and gas professionals to Cape Town from November 4-8, according to the Africa Report. Members of the climate awareness group, Extinction Rebellion, interrupted the yearly conference twice as they sought to bring attention to the disastrous environmental consequences of fossil fuel use.

Concerns about Africa’s energy consumption have been on the rise as Africa’s population growth, while varying wildly by country, is nevertheless projected to increase exponentially in the coming century. Data by the United Nations Population Division predicts that Africa’s population will exceed 2.5 billion by 2050, nearly doubling over the next three decades. The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects that over the same period, African  energy consumption will increase by 110 percent. 

Given low government revenues and the abundance of natural resources in Africa relative to the rest of the world, African governments have largely relied on fossil fuels to meet energy demands and bolster state revenue for a variety of projects, much to the frustration of activists and the international community. Noël Mboumba, the Gabonese minister of petroleum, noted that fossil fuels make up more than half of the government’s revenue, according to the Africa Report.  

African government officials at AOW generally ignored environmental concerns. Gabriel Lima, energy minister of Equatorial Guinea, rejected calls to limit fossil fuel use, saying that “under no circumstances are we going to be apologizing,” according to the New York Times. “No  one is going to force us not to use our fossil resources.” Lima is not alone. A South African official dismissed environmental concerns, supposedly joking, “if we stop coal too quickly, we will certainly breathe fresh air, but it will be in complete darkness without electricity!” 

South African Minister of Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe called attention to the energy sector’s need to “evolve gradually” as he expressed concerns about economic development and inequality, according to the Africa Report. 

Extinction Rebellion protesters denounced the dealings of oil executives and heads of state. As quoted in a report by GroundUp, protester Andrew Park criticized government officials for “making deals that perhaps they think is good for the economy.” However, he continued, “at the end of the day, it’s harming the world’s most vulnerable people.” 

GroundUp further reports that Extinction Rebellion’s Cape Town chapter released a public statement demanding that elected officials declare a climate emergency and halt further oil developments to help “in our global fight to avert a climate catastrophe.” The group also denounced inattention  to the “floods, droughts, typhoons, pollution, crop failures, refugees and misery” caused by further use of fossil fuels. 

Despite the logistical difficulties of navigating increasing energy demands, some experts view Africa’s path to modernization with more optimism. International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol noted that Africa holds 40 percent of the world’s potential solar power, despite only having one percent of the world’s solar panels, according to the New York Times. 

An AllAfrica report highlighted the results of a recent survey which found that 70 percent of Kenyan energy comes from renewable energy. The Inter Press Service similarly reported on efforts by the African Development Bank to prepare Africa for a rapidly changing landscape and to fund renewable energy projects across the continent. 

The conference and its reception on both sides of the issue speak to the difficulty of reconciling poverty and inequality reduction with increased green energy use. Developing countries in Africa and beyond will have to face similar dilemmas as they seek to establish more stable governments in unstable times.