Let me stop you right there, interjected Guyanas president, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, during a combative BBC Hardtalk interview in late March.
Ali was being challenged by anchor Stephen Sackur on the environmental impact of oil production in the Caribbean nation that could potentially be worth $150bn but he was in no mood to accept criticism of the carbon emissions that will result. The visibly angry president railed against wealthy nations that lecture us on climate change, slamming the hypocrisy of environmental arguments coming from countries that are responsible for the vast bulk of emissions released since the industrial revolution.
Did you know that Guyana has a forest that is the size of England and Scotland combined, he demanded, a forest that stores 19.5 gigatons of carbon, that we have kept alive? Im going to lecture you on climate change. We have kept this forest alive that you enjoy, that the world enjoys, that you dont pay us for, that you dont value.
Alis argument, which quickly went viral on social media, struck a chord across the Global South and especially in Africa. Least responsibility Africa, indeed, is the continent that bears the least responsibility for climate change. Of all the carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuels over the past two centuries, Africa is responsible for just 2.8%. Europe has produced more than 10 times as much carbon emissions as Africa over this timeframe.
It is not surprising, then, that African governments bristle at any suggestion that they should abandon plans to develop their oil and gas resources. Several African countries are in a similar position to Guyana, having discovered major hydrocarbon reserves in recent years. Senegal is now set to become Africas newest major oil and gas producer. Australian company Woodside Energy plans to start pumping oil from the offshore Sangomar field in the next few months. A gas field operated by BP that straddles the Senegal-Mauritania border is also expected to begin production this year. Revenues from these projects are a key reason why the country is projected to reach GDP growth approaching 10% in 2024 among the highest in the world.
But it is far from certain that other African countries will be able to follow in Senegals footsteps. Financing the huge costs of deepwater offshore projects is getting more difficult. Demand for oil in some key export markets is already declining, with gas demand also set to peak in the relatively near future. Against this backdrop, a complex range of factors which are as much economic as environmental will decide whether keeping resources in the ground is ever seriously considered. Attention in Africa has largely focused on the contested role of natural gas as a transition fuel in bridging the gap between fossil fuels and renewables.
There are so many things that are happening when it comes to the energy landscape in Africa, but natural gas is a very much part of that in the short and medium term, said Amani Abou-Zeid, the African Unions commissioner for infrastructure and energy at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Assembly in Abu Dhabi in April. The commissioner added that fully exploiting its natural gas resources would only marginally increase Africas share of global emissions.
No-one can preach [to] Africa when it comes to emissions and our position and our commitment to the climate issue, she said.
Is the West really trying to stop Africa from developing its resources?But critics say the narrative that the West is seek - ing to stop Africa developing its resources is overly simplistic. It is rare to hear governments or international institutions directly supporting the keep it in the ground argument.
Francesco La Camera, director-general of IRENA, told African Business that we have never asked to stop oil and gas production. He argued that gas production should be declining worldwide by 2025 in order to keep global temperatures within 1.5 degrees of pre-industrial levels. He acknowledged, however, that some new investment in gas is needed to avoid a rapid decline that could be not so rapidly compensated by renewable energy.
Meanwhile, it is oil and gas companies headquartered in Europe or North America that are usually first in line to develop projects in Africa. European governments, particularly from Italy and Germany, have scoured Africa since 2022 in search of gas that could help to replace supplies from Russia. Explicit opposition to developing oil and gas tends to come more from NGOs both in Africa and abroad than from governments. African environmental campaigners accuse the West of hypocrisy for talking tough on emissions to domestic audiences, while allowing its companies to invest in oil and gas projects abroad.
Referring to the oil pipeline being built by French company TotalEnergies, Ugandan environmental activist Hilda Flavia Nakabuye tol
