… 600,000 Africans die from indoor pollution annually
Augustine Aminu
Emerging reports have indicated that 900 million Africans rely on solid biomass such as firewood and charcoal for cooking, which causes indoor pollution that kills 600,000 people a year, African Energy Chamber, has said.
In a text distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber yesterday online, the South African based group called for what it described as an end to energy Colonialism and let Africa make its xhoices on Natural Gas.
It said A ban on African natural gas production would bring about the collapse of many carbon-dependent governments in Africa, adding that the oil industry is the primary source of income for many African nations.
It said without the continuation of petroleum production — or time and opportunities to cultivate new revenue sources — their economies will suffer — along with their citizens.
The statement reads in part, “Africa’s natural gas sector will soon be responsible for large-scale job creation, increased opportunities for monetization and economic diversification, and critical gas-to-power initiatives that will bring more Africans reliable electricity.
“These significant benefits should not be dismissed in the name of achieving net zero emissions on deadlines. To tell African countries with gas potential like Mozambique, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Libya, Algeria, South Africa, Angola and many others that they can’t monetize their gas and rather wait for foreign aid and handouts from their western counterparts makes no sense.”
The group argued further that it has maintained in the past and continue to believe that demonizing energy companies and those that work in the oil and gas industry is not a constructive way forward and ignoring the role that carbon-based fuels have played in driving human progress distorts the public debate.
It noted that, “Western countries are flat out wrong on this. They have benefited the most from Fossil Fuels. We are facing climate challenges today solely due to their historic pollution.
“We cannot expect African nations, which together emitted seven times less CO2 than China last year and four times less than the US, according to the Global Carbon Atlas, to undermine their best opportunities for economic development by simply aligning with the Western view of how to tackle carbon emissions. At the same time, no western nation is ready to pay a fair price for their role in legacy carbon emissions.”
