14.1

Dependency on Fossil Fuels

Africa has a large opportunity to transform itself to a low-carbon continent. It is entirely possible to lift Africa out of energy poverty, but it will need substantial financial and technological support for it to become a low-emission leader. I want to make the case for a low-carbon Africa that is able to produce renewable and sus­tainable energy to millions of energy-poor people across the continent, and export the surplus to continents regions such as Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Africa depends greatly on imported fossil fuels. Unfortunately, many African countries cannot afford to pay for their ever-increasing energy needs. Even Nigeria, the region’s largest exporter of crude oil, has to import refined fuels. Africa consumes far more energy for every dollar of gross domestic product than any other continent. This means Africa has currently the highest energy intensity in the world.

Africa very much depends on imports of oil and coal, and it burns massive amounts ofwoodfuel. With all its natural resources and waste that is not converted into bioenergy, the potential for renewable energy across the continent is enor­mous and can unlock economic growth. Next to biofuels and biomass, the main focus of this book, the possibilities for geothermal, small-scale hydro, solar, wind, and tidal wave energy are also substantial.

So far, however, sub-Saharan Africa has received relatively little funding from global climate finance sources or the carbon market, and is mainly relies on investments from China, public companies, and private equity initiatives.

The support that developed countries have offered for all climate change actions for all developing countries is regrettably inadequate. At the Climate Conference in Copenhagen in 2010 an annual support of just $10 billion per year up until 2012 was agreed, with a long-term finance commitment of $100 billion per year by 2020. The conference decided to establish a so-called "Green Climate Fund” and the final version has been presented at the climate conference in Durban in November 2011. However, the committee members of the Green Climate Fund did not agree on all the terms, so the launch of this promising initiative has been postponed. Germany is trying to attract to the city of Bonn funds and agencies of the United

Second Generation Biofuels and Biomass: Essential Guide for Investors, Scientists and Decision Makers, First Edition. Roland A. Jansen. r 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

Published 2013 by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

Nations and would welcome the Green Climate Fund to Bonn as a basis of its operation. A decision by the board will be taken in December 2012.

Africa should get its fair share of funds from the European Union and the United States to realize its low-carbon development potential. I wish the European Union would support Africa with €100 billion instead of supporting the Greek politicians, who have been cooking the books for years.

Statistics compiled by the International Energy Agency (IEA) clearly highlight the region as a global hotspot for energy poverty: just 30.5% of the population have access to electricity, leaving an estimated 585.2 million without (www. iea. org/weo/ docs/weo2010/weo2010_poverty. pdf).

The IEA estimates that when South Africa is excluded, annual residential electricity consumption in sub-Saharan Africa is the same as electricity con­sumption in New York State. That is to say, the 19.5 million people in New York consume the same amount of electricity, as is shared between the 791 million people of sub-Saharan Africa.

14.2