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This week, we look ahead to the Africa Climate Summit. Also, elections in Gabon and Zimbabwe go sideways, the SDRs’ first report card is in, and more.

Top news

A new climate narrative: The much-anticipated Africa Climate Summit kicks off on Monday. Co-hosted by Kenya and the African Union, the summit aims to advance a fresh narrative about Africa’s role in tackling the climate crisis – one that emphasises Africa’s untapped potential to drive green growth for itself and provide climate solutions for the world. The narrative reset hasn’t been without critique. A 1,000-strong coalition of non-state actors issued a list of redline positions for African leaders, concerned that the summit’s emphasis on investment deals and shared responsibility for climate action risks absolving higher-income countries of their historical responsibility for the climate crisis. Both need to happen: Rich countries must own their responsibility and Africa's unique potential and leadership role need to be elevated.

A widening gap: Next’s week’s summit will likely feature renewed calls for needed reforms of the global financial system. A lack of affordable and reliable finance is one of the key barriers to the ability of African countries to pursue climate-resilient development and a clean energy transition. Africa receives just US$19.5 billion per year in total climate finance, less than half what it will need annually just to finance climate adaptation by 2050. And despite having the world's highest potential for renewable energy, it receives less than 3% of global renewable energy investments. With rising interest rates increasing the cost of borrowing, African countries are finding it hard to raise the money needed to invest in their futures without worsening their debt burdens. The good news: great ideas to help address this challenge already exist. What doesn’t help the climate crisis? Spending trillions of dollars to subsidise fossil fuels. We’re looking at you G20. 👀 Watch out, the kids might file lawsuits to hold you accountable for climate action.

***Watch the media this week for a new report from ONE highlighting just how much of a premium African countries are paying to borrow money – fuelling the debt crisis and holding back urgently needed investments in climate solutions. 🚨 Spoiler alert: it’s not small. 🚨

Hoping lightning doesn’t strike twice: Kenya’s government will be crossing its fingers that there isn’t a repeat of last week’s nationwide power outage during the climate summit. Especially since the reason behind the blackout remains unclear and may (or may not, depending on who you ask) involve a loss of power at Africa’s largest wind farm. What is clear is that a lot went wrong: both of the country’s energy providers were incapacitated, there was a problem importing electricity from neighbouring Uganda, and the main generator at the country’s international airport failed. The country’s transport minister has since issued an apology and fired the head of the country’s aviation authority.

Win-win: The US$650 billion special drawing rights issuance in 2021 was broadly successful, says the IMF. It helped reduce borrowing costs for low- and middle-income countries and helped low-income countries address pandemic-related needs.👏 It benefitted the global economy and contributed to global financial stability. 👏 One thing it didn’t do: contribute to global inflation.👏 All reasons why advanced economies should channel more SDRs to countries in need. And why some are calling for a new issuance of SDRs.

Beaucoup de coups: Gabon’s election, which ended with a whimper as incumbent president Ali Bongo was declared the winner, was quickly followed with a bang when the country’s military stepped in to annul the election results and take control of the country. It’s not an outcome Bongo expected when he deployed the army to enforce a curfew soon after polls closed on Saturday. The curfew was one of a number of “precautionary” measures taken after the opposition claimed fraud even before the official result was announced. Other measures included an internet blackout and a provisional ban on all French media. Because restricting free movement and speech are hallmarks of a free and fair election…? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Soon after the coup, Bongo used the same internet he’d earlier shut down to appeal for international support for his release from house arrest.

Slow clap: The speed at which the tables turned for President Ali Bongo may temper the satisfaction of fellow disputed election winner, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa. After voting delays, the country’s electoral commission declared Mnangagwa the winner, with a reported 52.6% of the vote. However, the credibility of the election process has been questioned. In a historic first, election observers from the Southern African Development Community condemned the elections, citing voting delays, intimidation, and biassed media coverage. AU, EU, and US election observers levelled similar criticisms. The country’s main opposition plans to challenge the results in court and has asked the international community for support.

Diplomatic kerfuffles, Part 1: Libya’s former foreign minister has fled the country over concerns for her safety. She was fired earlier this week after a meeting with her Israeli counterpart fuelled protests and outrage. Given Libya’s long-running public support for Palestine, the meeting was ostensibly meant to be a secret one. Israel’s foreign ministry seemingly didn’t get the memo and has since tried to walk back an earlier description of the meeting as a formal one. Libya’s prime minister was similarly in damage control mode, visiting the Palestinian embassy in Tripoli to affirm the country’s support.

... and Part 2: More diplomatic drama is playing out between France and Niger. French President Emmanuel Macron defied the Nigerien junta’s order to withdraw the French ambassador from Niamey within 48 hours and asserted that France would not recognise the putschists. But with Gabon joining the list of countries experiencing coups in Francophone Africa, further diplomatic skirmishes likely lay ahead.

From the ONE Team

• ONE Activists are demanding climate justice at the Africa Climate Summit.
• ONE and partners will host a media briefing on Africa’s green future and what’s at stake at the climate summit at 2:00pm EAT, Sunday, 3 September.
• David McNair spoke with Tagesspiegel about what the BRICS summit means for the global balance of power.
• Kate Critchley on how the development sector should talk to the public about aid.

The numbers

• 9 million additional jobs could be created in the energy sector by 2030 through an African transition to renewable energy.
• US$272 billion per year is needed by African countries to meet the SDGs by 2030.
• 8 coups have taken place in Francophone Africa in the past three years. There have been at least 106 successful coups and 108 unsuccessful coups in Africa since 1952.

Quote of the week

"It is in the collective global interest to ensure that Africa has the financial means and investment to adapt to the realities of a changing climate and make the transition from fossil fuel-based economies to a net zero, renewables-centric model."

–Dr Graça Machel, Co-founder and Deputy Chair of The Elders

Hero and zero of the week:

HERO: The millions of citizens in Gabon and Zimbabwe who exercised their right to vote in last week’s elections, despite trying circumstances.

ZERO: G20 countries, which accounted for US$5.5 trillion of the US$7 trillion in direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies last year, whilst urging other countries to lower their carbon emissions. 😭

What you should read, watch, and listen to:

• African priorities for an equitable reform of the global financial system. (African Climate Foundation)
• Limiting climate change requires rechannelling of SDRs to MDBs. (CEPR)
• For the world’s most fragile countries, climate change poses higher and longer-lasting economic damage. (IMF)
• The finance executives behind the world’s largest conservation NGOs. (African Arguments)
• What heat waves do to our bodies. (The New Yorker)
• Investing in human capital to attract private investment in infrastructure. (CGD)
• Adam Tooze on why the West has failed to fulfil its promises on aid. (Financial Times)
• US rapper Kendrick Lamar interviews Nigerian singer and songwriter Tems on the inspiration behind her music. (Interview Magazine)
• Get familiar with a wide array of African changemakers. (CNN)

A look ahead

4-6 September: The inaugural Africa Climate Summit on the theme “Driving Green Growth and Climate Finance Solutions for Africa and the World” in Nairobi, Kenya.

4-6 September: Representatives from the world’s public development banks convene for the Finance in Common Summit on “Building New Alliances for the Next Generation of Development Finance” in Cartagena de India, Colombia.

4-8 September: Africa Climate Week in Nairobi, Kenya.

5-8 September: Africa Food Systems Forum on the theme “Recover, Regenerate, Act: Africa’s Solutions to Food Systems Transformation” in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

7 September: International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on the theme "Together for Clean Air."

7-8 September: Global Intergovernmental Meeting on Minerals and Metals in Geneva, Switzerland.

The ONE Campaign’s data.one.org provides cutting edge data and analysis on the economic, political, and social changes impacting Africa. Check it out HERE.

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