2023-06-22 11:15:12
The summit for a new global financial pact opens this Thursday, June 22 in Paris. A summit that is held in a context of mistrust between Western countries and African countries. The commitments made in recent years are indeed struggling to materialize, particularly on the subject of climate transition. However, at the same time, faced with their financial needs, some countries are tempted to develop their fossil fuels. Emmanuel Macron will also be the guest of RFI, France 24 and France Info this Friday, June 23 at 8:30 a.m. (Paris time).
Published on: 06/22/2023 – 11:15
The DRC and Senegal, for example, claim their right to exploit their fossil wealth in the name of developing their economy. Last year, the Senegalese president, Macky Sall considered that he was ” not reasonable to ask Africans to give up gas while others are still on coal and oil “. In this context, the Élysée hopes that the summit will demonstrate international solidarity so that no country ” does not have to choose between reducing poverty and protecting the planet “. A challenge that requires the mobilization of significant investments.
A report commissioned by the COP27 Presidency estimates the needs to reduce emissions, build resilience and address loss and damage to “ $1 trillion in additional external financing ».
A challenge, because in general, underlines Sébastien Treyer, director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), global financial flows are not directed towards the countries that need them: “ Dn a number of developing countries, access to finance has become extremely complicated since the series of Covid crises, the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the increase in interest rates in the countries of the North. To finance, for example, a renewable energy project in Africa, you have to pay interest rates of 15 to 20% when these interest rates are 3 to 4% in Europe. So, if we want to operate the energy transition, it is absolutely necessary to be able to change this access to finance in the countries of the South. ».
Sonly 10% of the growth in global investments in clean energy comes from emerging and developing countries, according to the International Energy Agency. Meanwhile, in sub-Saharan Africa, one in two people still does not have access to electricity.
>> To read also: Fossil fuels: TotalEnergies projects in South Africa denounced by NGOs
“A dynamic to finance the Sustainable Development Goals”
And, the outlook is not necessarily positive. There has been a delay in the financing needed for the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN. This vertex is therefore essential “says Thomas Friang, director of the think tank Open Diplomacy : « It gives a dynamic to be able to precisely finance the objectives of sustainable development of the United Nations. We are halfway through their adoption. We must use the logic of the Secretary General of the United Nations who proposes an investment plan of 500 billion dollars per year on the scale of the G20. If the G20 States make this small effort at the scale of their economy, we can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in time ».
So could a disappointing summit encourage some countries to exploit fossils more? For Thomas Friang, this will not directly depend on the outcome of the summit: “ I fundamentally believe that those who really want to develop their economy by producing hydrocarbons do not need this summit to justify themselves. ».
On the contrary, it is a risk identified by Désiré Assogbavi, director of the NGO One for French-speaking Africa: ” A disappointing summit would send African countries back to using these energies because there are vital needs waiting. On the other hand, a satisfactory summit would provide an opportunity to further commit to green energy. And that suits everyone, so it is important that world leaders take into account that the results of Paris will condition a lot of things ».
>> To listen also: Najat Vallaud-Belkacem: “The World Bank could lend three times more than it does”
Beware of the risk of “stranded assets”
In the absence of a sufficiently strong signal, the exploitation of fossil fuels may appear as a justification. Sébastien Treyer nevertheless warns against this solution: “ This may be a very bad calculation for themselves. There are civil society actors in the South who warn and say: ‘we could get the development wrong and end up with stranded assets’, that is to say investments that will no longer have any interest in ten years. It is absolutely necessary to prevent these countries from ending up with gas infrastructures on their hands when Europe, for example, will no longer want them in about ten years. ».
In any case, during the summit, there was no question for the Élysée to have an approach prescriptive ».
>> Read also: Africa claims the right to exploit its fossil fuels without constraints
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