President Obama, let Africa use its coal

“In the midst of his concerted campaign to prevent developing countries using coal, US President Barack Obama last week heard from African leaders at the US/Africa Summit just how important the world’s fastest growing fossil fuel is to meeting their energy needs,” the World Coal Association reports. “In a continent where 600 million people lack access to modern energy, many countries are looking to their own domestic natural resources to provide the base-load electricity that will be so critical to growing their economies and lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty.

“The Obama Administration’s current approach to coal at the international level is to do everything it can to prevent developing countries from using it. Whether it be pushing the World Bank into a policy stance that restricts coal use or seeking to eliminate export credits for coal technology through the OECD and its own export credit agency, the Obama Administration is doing all it can to get coal out of the mix to meet climate ambitions – while seemingly ignoring the development priorities of many countries that need robust energy services to succeed.

“African leaders were clear they would use all the resources available to them to meet their energy challenges, including solar, big hydro and coal. Many African countries have significant coal reserves that can be used to provide reliable base-load electricity that can go well beyond the ‘light bulb and cook stove’ solutions on which many international agencies are focusing.” As one Minister said “let Africa be and let Africa use our resources”.

The WCA continues: “That’s why coal is so important for meeting global ambitions to eradicate energy poverty. The recent draft proposal for Sustainable Development Goals goes some way to meeting that objective, but it must go further. It’s commendable that there is a proposed target of universal access to energy for all, but there is no clear statement of what that universal access would look like. This presumably means the proposed goals accept the usual target of five hours of electricity a day used by the International Energy Agency and other bodies – a level which specifically ignores the energy needs of business, industry and social services like schools and hospitals.

“We need a far more ambitious energy target. One that does not solely focus on immediate concerns about lighting and cooking but one that goes much further and supports economic growth and brings African countries at least a step closer to what those of us in the developed world enjoy. Coal will be a critical part of achieving that stretch target. More positively, the draft Sustainable Development Goals do now include language supporting cooperation on advanced and cleaner fossil fuel technologies, something that will be essential to ensuring energy access, development and climate objectives can be treated as integrated priorities.”

Cooperation in this area is important because regardless of pressure from countries like the US, many African countries will use their coal resources. As the Tanzanian Minister of Power said during the US/Africa Summit: “We will start intensifying the utilisation of coal …. We will just go ahead.” So, international support is needed to help countries in Africa use their coal using the most advanced technologies available.

The International Energy Agency recently warned of the risks associated with not supporting developing countries with new coal projects. Without international support, cheaper plants with higher emissions would be preferred to more expensive but cleaner plants, it warned. “In part,” says the WCA, “that’s why the World Bank President has begrudgingly acknowledged it may still need to fund coal plants in some scenarios. That’s why the African Development Bank’s new energy strategy has a far more balanced approach to coal. Involvement of multilateral development banks and other international bodies in funding coal plants will help countries in Africa address their energy needs while also meeting climate and environmental objectives.

“If President Obama has heard the message from African leaders at [the] summit and if he’s serious about addressing the huge challenges that exist on that continent, he needs to change tack and stop blocking deployment of cleaner coal technologies.”