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This week in Aftershocks: Pharmaceutical companies go price gouging, heat waves go after children, Gabon goes sea-green, and more.

Top News: “Daylight robbery”: Pfizer is reportedly planning to quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, a 10,000% mark up over its cost of production. Moderna is poised to follow suit, and experts are worried it could set a precedent of higher prices elsewhere. The move comes as global revenues from COVID-19 vaccines are expected to nearly halve next year, threatening to cut into the enormous profits pharmaceutical companies have enjoyed over the past two years. Pfizer's expected revenues have been downgraded… from $99.5 billion to $96.2 billion in 2022. And in 2023, revenues could even go as low as $78.4 billion {gasp}. We’ll get our sympathy card ready. Hot air: Climate change is severely affecting people’s health globally, says a new Lancet report. Heat-related deaths have increased by two-thirds over the past two decades. Worsening climate conditions exacerbate issues such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease and negatively impact mental health. UNICEF is warning that nearly all of the world’s 2 billion children will be exposed to frequent heat waves by 2050. That’s about 1.5 billion more children than are exposed today. This will occur even if the world limits global warming to 1.7°C (the current trajectory is...ahem, 2.7°C). The good news? A rapid shift to clean energy and energy efficiency could “still save millions of lives.” Not so fast, says the fossil fuel industry: 20 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies plan to spend nearly $1 trillion by 2030 developing new oil and gas fields. Guess which of the “3Ps” of corporate social responsibility is winning: people, planet, or profit. Sea-ing green: Gabon and The Nature Conservancy are joining forces to restructure $700 million in eurobond debt to finance marine conservation projects. The move is expected to help protect the world's largest breeding area for leatherback and olive ridley turtles, as well as 20 species of whales and dolphins. The marine reserves constitute nearly 30% of Gabon’s marine territory. It’s not the first time that Gabon has spearheaded environmental efforts: it’s a leader in forest conservation funded through carbon credits. Gabon absorbs the highest net amount of carbon dioxide in the world, and its deforestation rate has been below 0.1% per year over the past 50 years. The country lost less than 12,000 hectares of forest in 2015, compared to 1.45 million hectares lost in Brazil. Free the funds: Extreme poverty could be eradicated and the Sustainable Development Goals achieved if financial institutions, philanthropic organisations, and the world’s richest people combined forces to make it happen. The UN estimates it would cost between $2.5 and $4.2 trillion, equivalent to 3% of the $112 trillion in assets under management globally. In other words, it is doable. Development banks alone could unlock up to $1 trillion by leveraging their current capital, without any additional financing from donor countries. In addition, experts argue that philanthropic donors need to be bolder: they collectively have $2 trillion in global assets available, but deploy them sparingly and cautiously. With a looming polycrisis, now seems like a good time for bold investments in the future. On high alert: Ebola has now reached the capital of Uganda, with at least 14 confirmed cases in Kampala. The virus is believed to have travelled via an infected man seeking medical treatment. Authorities are hopeful that transmission has been limited, given that all known cases were already isolated when patients became symptomatic. Emerging infectious disease outbreaks have increased at an annual average rate of 6.7% since 1980, and the business-as-usual approach to pandemics is “short-sighted,” “costly,” and “reactive.” A better approach: proactively preventing disease outbreaks, which can be up to 86% less costly than actual outbreaks. In all fairness: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is the latest high-level official to call for increased African representation at the G20. He recommended the inclusion of the African Union as a full member (like the European Union). South Africa is the G20’s only Africa member, despite the continent accounting for nearly 30% of all countries and 17% of the world’s population. From the ONE Team: ONE’s CEO Gayle Smith discusses the impacts of the war in Ukraine on international development and multilateralism. Gayle will outline steps needed to prepare for the next pandemic at Politico Live’s Health Care Summit, starting at 9:40 CET today. ONE’s Global Policy Executive Director David McNair highlights how Europe can address the global democratic deficit. David also outlines the reasons behind Europe’s declining influence in Africa. ONE’s Policy Officer Olawunmi Ola-Busari talks to eNCA TV about the impacts of climate change on Africa. G20 leaders have failed to “Free the Funds.” So we decided to make a 1-minute short about it. In partnership with ONE, The Citizen looks at how high equipment prices impact electricity access in rural Tanzania. Check out the first event in a series as part of a media partnership between ONE and Tortoise media: Living in a heating world: lessons from the global South (November 10th, 08:00 GMT). Taking place during the COP27 climate talks in Egypt and centring African voices, this ThinkIn will ask: what lessons can be learned from adaptation and transition in the global South? Use this link to register, using code ONEGUEST for non-Tortoise members. The Numbers: 1.5 billion: number of people living in the 25 countries most vulnerable to debt distress. 99% of the vaccines administered in Africa are imported despite Africa having twice the disease burden compared to other regions. $70 billion: the annual investment needed to replace all fossil fuels infrastructure in Africa with renewables, which could be met using private sector capital.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK "Resources for development are finite, military funds are not." – Gayle Smith, CEO of ONE.

What you should read, watch & listen to: Lower-income countries are ready to play hard ball over climate damages. (Foreign Policy) Can tech help fix the dark side of electric vehicle supply chains? (The Washington Post) African migrants fear the consequences of Italy’s far right in power. (The BBC) A comic(al) approach to addressing climate change. (DW) A power balance shifts as Europe, facing a gas crisis, turns to Africa for help. (The New York Times) Rethinking scale in climate solutions. (Stanford Social Innovation Review)

A look ahead: 28 October: Germany and Canada are expected to publish their long-awaited “Delivery Plan on Climate Finance.” 30 October to 4 November: Pre-sessional meetings of negotiation groups for COP27. 8 to 13 November: The ASEAN Summit takes place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The ONE Campaign’s Africa COVID-19 Tracker brings together the key data points on how COVID-19 is impacting Africa. Check it out HERE.

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