Cape Town, 19 October – Tonight’s gala dinner for fossil fuel industry chiefs and petroleum ministers participating in the Africa Energy Week in Cape Town was interrupted by bright projections on the overlooking Cape Town Stadium: “Fossil fuels kill” and “The future is renewable.” It is part of Greenpeace Africa’s protest against a new scramble for Africa’s oil and gas, an industry responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths on the continent every year.
“Government ministers and Big Oil executives cannot hide with cocktails and appetizers while Africa is burning. New investments in fossil fuels means divestment from the people of Africa, the destruction of peatlands and protected areas in the Congo rainforest and of fishing and drinking resources from East Africa to Senegal. We demand a better future and that future can only be renewable,” said Irene Wabiwa, leader of the Greenpeace Africa campaign against oil and gas development in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The Greenpeace Africa projection could easily be seen by the attendees of the gala dinner that concludes a week long event sponsored by and promoting the fossil fuel industry, attended by petroleum ministers from across the continent, among them the DRC, Namibia, and Senegal.
While almost one million Africans live without electricity at all, fossil fuels are almost exclusively exported from the continent to global north countries. The Africa Energy Week promotes a future of more pollution of air, soil and water reserves, land grabs, corruption and conflict – all well documented by products of the curse of oil.
Greenepace Africa has produced volumes of research that point to the value of a just transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. In South Africa, research shows greater investment and uptake in renewable energy could have averted load shedding [1]. Other research has shown that there are significant employment co-benefits to a just transition, while other research has shown the consequences of fossil fuel dependence until now in the form of extreme weather events.
The fossil fuel industry is also notorious for land grabbing and human rights abuses in Africa. A report on the massive oil and gas auction in the DRC by Greenpeace Africa and its partners demonstrates the lack of any free, prior and informed consent by local communities to designate their lands for oil activity.
“To escape the curse of oil, of widespread pollution and concentrated wealth among a few corrupt individuals and their overseas partners, we urge African governments to choose a rapid transition to clean, decentralized and renewable energy which would create many more jobs and end energy poverty across the continent. It would also demonstrate to the world that African countries can lead in their own path and not replicate the mistakes of the old colonial regimes,” concluded Irene Wabiwa.
For interviews and more information:
Greenpeace Africa Press Desk: [email protected]
Chris Vlavianos,
Greenpeace Africa Communications Officer,
+27-79 883 7036, [email protected]
Tal Harris,
International Communications Coordinator, +221-78 5366270