African and worldwide leaders will attend the African Local weather Summit from September 4 to six in Nairobi, Kenya. They may deliberate on Africa’s unified place on the local weather disaster forward of COP28, the worldwide local weather talks, in December and develop the Nairobi Declaration for inexperienced progress, a blueprint for Africa’s inexperienced Vitality transition.

COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, who serves as CEO of the state-owned Abu Dhabi Nationwide Oil Co (ADNOC), may even be in attendance.

Oil Change Worldwide knowledge reveals the expansion in oil and fuel manufacturing within the United Arab Emirates is poised to be among the many world’s largest within the subsequent few years and ADNOC is anticipated to see the second greatest progress amongst Fossil Gas corporations. Due to this, all eyes shall be on Al Jaber to make sure he’ll put aside the short-term pursuits of the oil and fuel trade and ship transformative motion at COP28 as promised.

To us, meaning a simply and equitable vitality transition for Africa, phasing out all Fossil Fuels and bringing an finish to the exploitation of our land, sources and communities by World North international locations.

This 12 months, African civil society organisations despatched letters to the CEOs of BP, Chevron, Exxon and Shell, amongst others, warning these corporations towards investing within the drilling actions of Reconnaissance Vitality Africa (ReconAfrica) within the Okavango Basin in Namibia and Botswana.

ReconAfrica’s projections of 120 billion barrels of recoverable oil may produce a “carbon gigabomb” of 51.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, equal to one-sixth of the world’s remaining carbon finances – an quantity we merely can not afford to extract. The drilling operations have already prompted important authorized, social and environmental points, together with destroying forests and crops and risking the destruction of one of many richest biodiversity hotspots on earth. Biodiversity hotspots maintain livelihoods and important ecosystems. Extraction in these hotspots threaten livelihoods and species survival throughout the continent.

BP’s huge new fuel plans in West Africa pose local weather and biodiversity threats in Senegal, and profitable contracts with ENI, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and Complete threaten Mozambique.

Africa’s leaders should take heed that our communities can not threat a repeat of the devastation the fossil gas trade dropped at the Niger Delta. The neocolonial mannequin of extracting and exploiting Africa’s sources at any value should cease.

The African Local weather Summit must be a chance to chart the continent’s course in the direction of an equitable and sustainable future that protects our folks and communities, and to organize a coordinated entrance from African leaders to name for a quick and truthful phase-out of all fossil fuels at COP28.

But the summit agenda seems to have been hijacked. The main focus is on fossil gas promotion as an alternative of fresh vitality options and carbon credit as an alternative of a simply transition in the direction of renewables. Pushing for fossil fuels will proceed to permit World North international locations to use our continent’s sources and threaten our future.

Greater than 500 civil society organisations issued an pressing name to reset the main target of the Africa Local weather Summit from World North and company pursuits to certainly one of African priorities, comparable to a simply and equitable phase-out of all new fossil gas initiatives.

Each new fossil gas mission is incompatible with a habitable future. In accordance with the Worldwide Vitality Company, respecting the 1.5C warming restrict and securing a habitable future means there may be no new coal, oil or fuel.

It’s a fable that fossil fuels help growth. Fossil fuels neither equal vitality entry nor do they equal jobs or revenue. The sources and income from fossil gas extraction in Africa have all the time been exported to the richest international locations, leaving our communities with nothing however air pollution, elevated inequality, eroded governments and rising militarisation.

Africa – the continent struggling the worst of the local weather disaster however having the very best renewable vitality potential – doesn’t want new fossil fuels or false and unproven applied sciences that permit wealthy international locations to proceed to burn fossil fuels. African leaders should hearken to the African folks, who need a simply transition to 100% renewable vitality.

With 600 million Africans missing entry to wash, fashionable vitality, we are saying scaling up low-cost, decentralised, renewable vitality is the quickest and finest option to finish vitality exclusion and meet the wants of Africa’s folks.

Shifting to renewable vitality and phasing out fossil gas reliance will completely deliver down hovering vitality prices and enhance vitality safety. Renewable applied sciences are extra reasonably priced, may be scaled up extra quickly and don’t introduce additional volatility by means of elevated local weather harm, fiscal instability and stranded asset dangers as world fuel demand drops. They may also be community-led and -owned and may higher attain rural communities.

That is the one efficient path to reaching a safer, affluent future – for Africa and the world. As African leaders collect on the Africa Local weather Summit and head in the direction of COP28 talks in Dubai, they need to act with the integrity and management required to make sure a sustainable future powered by clear vitality.

The views expressed on this article are the authors’ personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.