Africa Under
Exploiting Green Energy -Report
The
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has said Africa is lagging
behind the rest of the world in developing renewable energy
projects.
The agency said in a new report that the initiatives aimed at
producing clean and `green' energy remained largely
under-exploited on the continent.
It noted that the entire continent had just about 120
carbon market projects and was just developing wind power and
forestry schemes.
Projects’ breakdown
The environment agency said that harvesting methane gas from
landfills to fuel electricity generation made up 20 per
cent of all such initiatives.
’’ Larger economies in Africa such as Egypt and South Africa are
home to the lion's share of the schemes, with 32 and 13 projects
respectively, while only Zambia, Madagascar, Cameroon and Mali
have one or two projects each and several countries have none,’’
it said.
However, the report, prepared for the ongoing Second African
Carbon Forum, highlighted Kenya and Uganda as exceptions with
the number of carbon market projects under way in these
countries, having jumped from two in 2007 to 15 and 12
respectively.
The forum, taking place at the United Nations Gigiri complex in
Nairobi, Kenya, ends on Friday, 5th March.
Any headway?
The study also reported patchy growth in the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM), an arrangement under the Kyoto Protocol
allowing developed countries to reduce emissions and meet global
warming commitments by investing in carbon reduction projects in
developing countries.
The new Africa-wide UNEP assessment estimates that close to
4,900 CDM projects are up and running or in the pipeline
worldwide, a large number of which are in the big developing
economies such as Brazil, China and India.
The forum, an initiative of the Nairobi Framework partner UN
agencies and the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA),
will build on the growing interest in the Kyoto Protocol’s clean
development mechanism (CDM) in Africa.
Under the CDM, projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
contribute to sustainable development can earn saleable
certified emission reduction credits.
Thus, the CDM is
stimulating investment in clean, sustainable development, while
helping to address climate change.
Countries are eager to scale up and extend the benefits of the
CDM to more countries.
The all-Africa Carbon Forum brought together project developers,
buyers, service providers, national CDM representatives and
various other private and public sector stakeholders.
More than 500 participants, including about 60
national representatives – so-called CDM designated national
authorities and national focal points – from more than 30
African countries are in attendance.
The conference focused on topics of special interest to CDM in
Africa with the expressed intention of catalyzing CDM activity
on the continent – emerging opportunities in the area of
agriculture, forestry and land use; carbon finance in waste
management; reducing emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation (REDD) in Africa; opportunities for renewable
energy; Africa-friendly methodologies and programmes of multiple
CDM project activities; and raising capacity of CDM
stakeholders.
The Nairobi Framework
In November 2006, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
launched the Nairobi Framework, aimed at spreading the benefits
of the CDM. Since then, interest in the mechanism in Africa has
grown, and with it the number of projects and hosting countries.
Still, Africa accounts for less than 2 per cent of the
2,040 plus CDM projects registered to date in 62
countries.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank (WB), United
Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the
African Development Bank and the UNFCCC secretariat have joined
to implement the Nairobi Framework.
NAN/Yinka
