Afrasianet - Abdul qadir Muhammad Ali - In recent years, interest in climate issues has risen and become a major part of the global policy agenda, emerging in this context the so-called "climate imperialism" or the attempt of the powerful powers of the North to impose their hegemony through the use of issues related to climate change and its control.
The African continent is one of the most prominent arenas where the files of confronting the repercussions of global warming have turned into a "Trojan horse", through which colonial domination is rebuilt in a green dress this time, which ultimately leads to increased the damage to the countries and societies of the continent that suffer from the devastating consequences of emissions driven by industrial powers.
While figures indicate that Africa's contribution to global cumulative emissions does not exceed 4%, while the contribution of developed countries exceeded 80% in the extended period, this reality, which the African continent did not participate in making, not only makes it the most vulnerable spot to the alarming effects of climate change, but also puts it in the dilemma of needing rich countries of the North, giving these countries the opportunity to formulate global environmental policies according to their interests.
Victims of the Green Transition
The past decade has seen a significant rise in global interest in the transition to green energy technologies and the vital minerals they require such as cobalt , copper, lithium and manganese, which is reflected in Africa, which stores vast amounts of these resources, including 85% of the world's manganese reserves, 80% of platinum and chromium, while the reserves of the Democratic Republic of Congo are estimated at about 70% of the world's cobalt.
Despite this enormous abundance of mineral resources vital to future industries, the mechanisms by which these treasures are dealt with remove the cover from a profound contradiction through which climate change solutions for developed countries are based on the exploitation of resources and labor in the Global South, representing a direct continuation of historical colonial patterns.
This exploitative pattern manifests itself in multiple forms, including consolidating the continent's position as the source of raw materials only by investing in mining sectors without developing industrial structures capable of unleashing the maximum utilization of these assets, as the World Bank estimates that sub-Saharan Africa receives on average only 40% of potential revenues from their natural resources.
A lengthy article in Project Syndicate reveals another aspect of the enormous economic opportunities lost as a result of the continued export of unprocessed goods: while bauxite (aluminum ore) is sold for about $92 per ton, aluminum is sold at about $2,438 per ton, at 2023 prices.
The negative effects of turning Africa into an exporter of raw materials extend to the human element, with reports by reputable human rights organizations such as Amnesty International highlighting various violations accompanying cobalt mining operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including the widespread use of child labour as young as 12 in dangerous underground conditions and in strenuous shifts of up to 24 hours.
On the other hand, the accelerated shift towards clean energy and the efforts of major powers to control the supply chains of vital materials involved in their technologies have unleashed a state of "new scramble" on the African continent, turning it into an arena for a global geopolitical conflict that increases the political and security complexities and instability that afflicts the already exhausted continent.
Who benefits from carbon markets?
Carbon markets are one of the supposed mechanisms to address the consequences of extreme climate change, and this concept was born within the Kyoto Protocol in 2005 and reinforced by Article 6 of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which allows high-emitting countries to enter into bilateral agreements with their low-emission counterparts to purchase emission credits from renewable energy or afforestation projects.
In practice, carbon is traded within this market through a barter that begins with governments or regulators setting a maximum amount of carbon dioxide (a type of pollution) that is allowed to be emitted, enabling exporters of less than the permissible limit to obtain "carbon credits" and sell them to other parties whose purchase of this "currency" guarantees that it will remain under legal limits.
According to Bloomberg, the carbon offset market in 2023 reached $2 billion with expectations of $1.1 trillion by 2050. While the benefits of this trade – such as boosting investments in green technologies and conservation projects, and creating economic incentives to reduce emissions – this is not the whole picture.
A lengthy report by Progressive Global shows that carbon offset projects have resulted in a complex web of grievances, power imbalances, and conflicts over land rights, and have involved the annexation of vast tracts of land, destroying the lives of communities and ecosystems.
For example, the Kenyan government expelled the Ogiek community from the Mao forest, allegedly in the name of climate action and forest protection, forcing the affected communities to go to court.
A report by the Auckland Institute examines the African Forest Impact Platform (AFIP) backed by European development finance institutions, Japanese oil companies, and an Australian investment firm that promotes "nature-based solutions," but a troubling pattern of exploitation and environmental misinformation is evident in its investments, with its first seizure of Green Resources, known for its history of land grabbing, human rights abuses and environmental destruction in Uganda , Mozambique and Tanzania.
Dominance of global climate agendas
Despite their historical contribution to the bulk of environmental pollution, the countries of the Global North also control the mapping of the fight against this destructive phenomenon, in a striking paradox that enables them to impose their priorities on the parties that contribute least to harmful emissions and are most affected by them at the same time, such as the African continent.
In this context, the focus is on ways to reduce harmful emissions that are of concern to industrialized countries, while discussions about the adaptation mechanisms that Africa needs in the face of the devastating effects of climate change such as drought, floods and food security are retreating backwards.
For example, at the COP26 climate conference held in Glasgow in 2021, 70% of climate finance was directed towards mitigating emissions, while 30% were allocated to adaptation, despite its urgent necessity for the continent.
This dominance of the global environmental agenda is also revealed at the Africa Climate Summit 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya, where the focus on expanding carbon markets with pledges of hundreds of millions of dollars prevailed, while ignoring the effects of this strategy in destroying the lives of unique communities and ecosystems while failing to curb emissions, as many specialists emphasize.
Another aspect of this hegemony is the continuous obstruction of the recognition of historical responsibility for pollution and its consequences, and a research paper issued by Los & Integration Colabretion illustrates the concerted efforts over 3 decades by developed countries that are signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to block the adoption of a fund to support countries affected by climate change and address the "losses and damages" caused by extreme weather events.
They make our perceptions of the problem and the solution.
Many studies refer to what they call "cognitive hegemony" as a tool of "green colonialism", which means the control of a set of perceptions and concepts emanating from the Western system over the field of knowledge related to the environment, and the neglect and marginalization of the forms of knowledge and expertise enjoyed by local communities in Africa, which ultimately strengthens the dominance of the Nordic countries over environmental policies.
An article published by Ayoub Ghabrimariam, a fellow fellow at the London School of Economics, explains that Africa-focused climate studies receive limited research funding, with only 3.8% of global climate research funding allocated between 1990 and 2020 to Africa-focused topics despite being disproportionately exposed to the serious impacts of climate change.
Meanwhile, research centers in Europe and North America dominate Africa-focused climate research.
The 2022 IPCC report highlighted that 78% of funding is allocated to northern research institutions, which is directly reflected in the decline in the participation of African researchers as authors of "relevant" climate research, as the report confirms that there is not a single "local author" when analyzing more than 15,000 publications dealing with climate issues covering 75% of African countries.
Gabrimariam concludes that this "exclusion" from knowledge production not only discredits and marginalizes non-centralized knowledge frameworks, but also limits the ability to translate scientific studies into practical and realistic insights on priority issues for Africa.
On the way to climate justice
How to respond to multifaceted green colonialism has become a major part of the agenda of African political and environmental debates, and has taken many forms, whether at the continental or international level or at the level of civil society organizations and youth.
The African Union has stated that the countries of the continent do not bear much responsibility for the phenomenon of climate change as a result of the low amount of emissions they have historically emitted, and African leaders have consistently called for adequate technical and financial support from the international community to face the catastrophic repercussions of this phenomenon.
In this context, African States are actively developing and implementing national adaptation strategies, which include integrated approaches to coastal zone management, water resources and agriculture, particularly in areas severely affected by drought and desertification.
Civil society organizations and youth movements on the continent are calling for "climate justice," including dismantling economic structures dependent on turning Africa into an exporter of raw materials that have deprived it of full access to the added values of its mineral wealth, while demanding the formation of new structures in which communities, workers and marginalized groups are a key part of decision-makers rather than foreign governments.
In addition, criticism is growing of foreign-imposed development models that put the interests of foreign companies above the lives and destinies of local communities, such as megaprojects to build solar and wind power plants that are described as the future of clean energy on the continent and ignore the damage they entail such as the displacement of indigenous peoples, the destruction of local ecosystems, and the failure to ensure equal access to energy for those who need it most.
It also proposes initiatives for alternative development models such as sustainable agriculture networks and community-based renewable energy projects, with the continuous call for industrialized countries to assume their historical responsibility for environmental pollution and to pay fair compensation to affected countries by adopting the principle of "climate compensation" as a key part of the global environmental agenda, and abandoning policies based on loans or conditional financing, whether from governments or international financial institutions.