Africa faces uphill battle against western emissions to combat climate change, say activists

Although the continent accounts for the smallest share of global greenhouse gas emissions – only 3.8% – it’s already heating faster than the rest of the world.

CAPE TOWN, January 17 (ANA) – African nations continue to hold the unenviable position of being disproportionately vulnerable to climate change, according to a recent report by Dr Margaret Kadiri, a lecturer in Physical Geography from King’s College London.

The UN climate summit, COP26, held in November 2021, focused the world’s attention on the urgent need to tackle climate change and concluded with 197 countries agreeing to the Glasgow climate pact. But opinions on the summit’s success are polarised, say climate experts.

In a report first published in not-for-profit news media outlet The Conversation, Kadiri said we owed a profound gratitude to the developing nations – including those from Africa – who agreed to the pact.

“In doing so, they chose not to insist that richer developed nations, whose historical and ongoing greenhouse gas emissions have largely caused the climate crisis, pay reparations to them for the damage they’ve inflicted.”

Although the continent accounts for the smallest share of global greenhouse gas emissions – only 3.8 percent – it’s already heating faster than the rest of the world.

And if the target of limiting global warming to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels is missed, Africa could face catastrophic temperature increases of up to 3℃ by 2050, Kadiri said.

According to reports, the threat to GDP of African nations that are most vulnerable to these changes – meaning the amount of economic activity that stands to be lost if these changes are severe enough – is projected to increase from £660 billion in 2018 to more than £1 trillion in 2023. That’s almost half of the continent’s projected GDP.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay