In Washington, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank and the IMF, The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) organised the 2024 edition of the Babacar Ndiaye Lecture evening on the theme ‘Can the AfCFTA solve the climate change dilemma? An exchange with the former Nigerian Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who gave his vision for the development of States and the continent through green growth that creates wealth.
Unlocking the potential of the African continent through green industrialisation is one approach to developing African economies while addressing the challenges of climate change. For this to happen, the continent must find a new way to reduce its environmental footprint while making the most of its natural resources to create more wealth. Through the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the adoption of strong climate policies and measures could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% while increasing intra-African trade from 31% to 34%, compared to 14.9% in 2023.
The FTAA will create an opportunity for the manufacturing sector to develop services. For this agreement to be implemented, we need 42% of the States to pass laws to ban the export of mining products in particular.
Yemi Osinbajo, Former Vice-President of the Republic – Nigeria
Transforming mining resources locally, using cleaner energy sources, would increase renewable energy consumption in Africa from 5% to 12% by 2045. This would also boost intra-African trade and reduce the need to transport goods over very long distances. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Statistics, transport accounts for 23% of global carbon emissions.
With intra-African trade and shorter trading distances, we create far fewer emissions. By trading with each other, we are making a very important contribution to climate change. It’s a sustainable solution that makes Africa less susceptible to global economic shocks. Most of the world’s economic crises are never created in Africa, they come from the developed countries and this affects us because of our level of trade with these countries. More intra-African trade will create a protective buffer to allow us to develop faster, without impacting the climate and protect us from economic crises.
Yemi KALE, Chief Economist, Afreximbank – NIGERIA
Although climate change remains a global challenge, countries on the continent need to adapt and find sustainable solutions without hampering development and wealth creation, given that Africa accounts for less than 10% of global carbon emissions responsible for climate change. Proper implementation of the AfCFTA Protocol would make it possible to achieve both objectives in the medium term.