Organisations ranging from the World Bank to the European Investment Bank have dropped support for African fossil fuel production in hopes of encouraging a transition from oil, gas and coal to sustainable energy sources like wind and solar power.
Now, there are legitimate concerns that investor support for oil and gas production will dwindle as well. Blackrock, which controls $7 trillion (R125 trillion) in investments, and the Royal Bank of Scotland have said they would be moving away from investments that support fossil fuel production.
The anti-fossil fuel fervour is being demonstrated in what might seem like surprising ways: the Bank of England was criticised for having an oil company executive on its board of directors.
Pressure is coming from within Africa, as well. Western funded NGOs from Kenya and the surrounding region, for example, recently petitioned the AU to put a stop to coal usage and look into phasing out oil and gas usage over the next three decades, in hopes of eliminating emissions that contribute to global warming.
I agree that climate change should be taken seriously, but we cannot accept knee-jerk responses. We must not rob our continent of the significant benefits it can realise from oil and gas operations, from the economic opportunities of monetised natural resources to critically important gas-to-power initiatives.
