AS the majority of people in the developing world suffer from acute shortages of energy supplies, they are continuously being bombarded with the gospel of green energy technologies without coming across any. Many people in the developing world, especially sub Saharan Africa, are still confronted with grim realities of power cuts, continuous electricity shortages as well as shortages of energy for cooking, lighting and heating. The majority always ask when their fair share of clean and sustainable energy will reach their doorsteps. To them, green energy only exists in newspapers, televisions, radios and perennially on the lips of lying government officials emitting false solutions.
Peter Makwanya
When the International Conference on Renewable Energy was held in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2015, expectations were quite high, at last not only the desire, but also commitment had been shown. What was agreed upon, was to accelerate the growth of renewable energy establishments on the continent. Some countries were identified to have enormous potential for wind-farming, therefore, they had to harness the power of the wind. A few countries in the sub Saharan region are gradually realising this goal, but the majority continue to sing the power blues.
It is still a pity that the majority of inhabitants of sub Saharan Africa still have to make do with archaic energy sources of the stone-age era. Talk of smoky and sooty oil lamps, coupled with choking and suffocating out-dated coal stoves. Welcome to the doorsteps of the under-developing world of the presumed developed world. Most people of this region has become permanent associates with the world of tuberculosis and many other forms of diseases.
Developed countries, which are supposed to bring sustainable energy to the developing world, are themselves devious double-speakers, slippery merchants of half-truths, as well as unsustainable in their dealings with the cursed developing world. Also not to be outdone are their African counterparts, who seem to have modified the climate of misinformation and concealment of truth. The stark realities of darkness in this part of the world should motivate the responsible authorities to move with great speed in establishing firm foundations for green growth. If the green messiahs from the developed world were genuine enough, Africa and other under-developed parts of the world, could be slowly realising economic growth based on the acquisition of green energy technologies for sustainable development.
The United Nations launched the Sustainable Energy for all by 2030 campaign and we are inching towards the half-way mark, but many inhabitants of the developing world continue to ask when they are going to realise sustainable energy. Evidence on the ground clearly suggests that many nations in the developing world are not ready to part ways with the fossil fuels explorations. We still have the Hwange Thermal plants, the Eskom, the Sasol, the Medupi and many other interests in fossil fuels going strong. At least these carbon emitting companies should be seen at the forefront of launching programmes for green energy development. In this regard, they have since not changed their behaviour or seem to be pretending to.
While developed countries should honour their pledges for emissions reduction and bring sustainable energy to Africa, the developing countries should not continue waiting for green manna from the polluted heavens of Europe, America and other developed countries. Developing countries need not narrow their minds in this regard, but narrow their focus inwardly and expedite the implementation of the COP21 resolutions for their own national capacity building programmes. The green pie from the developed world may not be enough for the procrastinating governments of the developing world to share.
Renewable energy and green growth is what the environment has ordered, but it may not come so cheap, as those who have realised their emission errors still need to tone down on rhetoric and start acting. As the developing countries appear to be moving slowly in getting things done, one wonders whether they need another COP something so as to make them cope with the high demands of green energy technologies. The developing countries should always set their development goals within the framework of global carbon emissions cuts.
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According to one of the demands of SDGs, renewable energy should be realised by the local and rural poor. If the rural poor are left out of the energy renewal programmes then one of the most fundamental SDGs objectives will be sadly missed. If the green technologies become too expensive and unaffordable to the rural poor, then the market-led approaches will not be meaningfully realised. The major development goal for renewable energy is to make developing countries able to manage the escalating energy poverty in the sub Saharan Africa. Africa also has a part to play in managing its escalating population growth for equitable distribution of resources. Africa should seriously consider addressing the energy inequalities that are threatening to bring back the grim realities of Africa as a dark continent. The issue of vulnerabilities is also a major aspect to be addressed by the developing countries with regard to the rural poor, women and children. These are the social groups that would not cease to question on the availability of sustainable energy. These are also the people whose fragile health and lack of access to life-saving drugs has led to high mortality rates across the poverty-stricken landscapes of Africa.
Finally, these low-carbon energy technologies should not be a preserve of the few elites and favoured ones. The motto, according to the United Nations is, Sustainable Energy for All by 2030. Up to this day, in the developing countries, the majority of the people cannot even be convinced that, fossil fuels are dirty and a health hazard, when they have never realised the efficiency of clean energy development. Therefore, all concerned parties should try toning down on the aspect of glib and double-speaking in order not to sufficiently confuse the majority of the poverty-stricken people.
