Friday, 25 November

Dear <<First Name>>

COP27 came to a close at the weekend and with it any hopes that the talks would deliver any significant progress towards mitigating climate change. The breakthrough agreement on a loss and damage fund was the standout achievement over the two weeks and Sharm el-Sheikh will certainly go down in the annals of history for being the place where that happened. But with the window of opportunity to keep global warming close to 1.5C all but shut, it is hard to see the summit as anything less than a missed opportunity for meaningful climate action.  

Rather than pin all of our hopes on the next COP – in Dubai next November – we think everyone just needs to get on with mitigation and adaptation… with scale and speed.  If finance, civil society and corporates (and their shareholders) can work together, with government encouragement and catalytic climate finance, then with luck the next COP will ride on top of that momentum. Of course, we need and hope that COP28 will be a success, but the truth is that we don’t have to rely on the long-winded machinations of questionably enforceable international agreements.   

On its part, Camco had a very active role throughout the conference, taking part in a dozen events and furthering the conversation around not just why the private sector has an increasingly critical role in tackling climate change – but how to make it happen. The UK-funded REPP, that we manage, has been implementing – for seven years - what many were talking about at the COP as so badly needed.  Our experiences and learnings from REPP provided plenty of material on how carefully deployed climate finance can and is having a transformative impact in developing countries, and allowed us to showcase real, tangible action that we are now seeking to scale up quickly.  

We were also delighted to team up with ESI Africa again this year to deliver regular commentary from the side-lines of the negotiations, as well as providing additional reports and analysis via our social media networks. You can see a comprehensive round-up of our core comms activity during COP27 here. 

Cheers 

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco 

West Africa

Clean energy: Scholarship to boost sustainable energy efforts in West Africa (ESI Africa)
- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in partnership with the European Union, has unveiled a scholarship programme on sustainable energy for post-graduate students.

Nigeria: Rural Electrification Agency (REA) of Nigeria and CarbonAi sign MoU (Pumps Africa)
- The deal is to identify and develop small-scale solar energy projects in the country, which will be funded by proceeds generated through CarbonAi-financed and developed flare gas projects in Nigeria. 

East Africa

Uganda: Country aspires to green energy generation using hydrogen-based storage (ESI Africa)
- The Ugandan government is teaming up with hydrogen pioneer HDF Energy with the aim of building the country's first "Renewstable" power plant, which would operate by combining a solar PV plant and mass storage of energy through a hydrogen chain. 

Uganda: Parliament approves USD331 million loan for electricity access (AllAfrica)
- The loan is for financing the Electricity Access Scale Up Project (EASP), whose aim is to increase access to electricity nationwide.

Southern Africa

Namibia: Key points of the ‘strategic’ partnership with the EU on hydrogen (Afrik 21)
- The EU is counting on Namibia to supply it with low-carbon hydrogen over the next few years. 

South Africa: Climate education in need of improvement (SA News)
- The Head of Programme and Projects at a respected environmental organisation has called for a new approach to climate education that helps young voices in being heard and supports advocacy and action.

South Africa: Western Cape receives R300,000 for disaster relief (IOL)
- The National Treasury has allocated the funding to the Western Cape government in an attempt to provide aid to disaster-stricken areas.

Zimbabwe: Solar pumps to address climate change in Harare (Afrik 21)
- More than 60 systems have been installed by the African Development Bank and UNICEF in collaboration with the Zimbabwean government to help the capital's residents cope with extreme weather events.
 

Africa - other

Climate finance: African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) invests in integrated energy platform (AIIM Africa)
- AIIM has agreed to provide initial equity funding of up to USD90 million to support the establishment of a new renewable energy platform, NOA Group Holdings, to deliver net zero energy solutions for Africa.

Climate finance: EUR1.2 million mobilised for climate resilience (Afrik 21)
- With 86 million Africans expected to migrate within their own countries by 2050 according to the World Bank, the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees is mobilising the financing to fund projects focusing on climate resilience for displaced people in six African municipalities.

Pacific

Tuvalu: Minister hails loss and damage fund but climate action fight continues (RNZ)
- The country’s Finance Minister has labelled the COP27 outcome a historic breakthrough. 

Rest of the world

Australia: Court blocks giant coal mine on human rights grounds (Bloomberg)
- A Queensland court has blocked a proposal for a huge coal mine which would add 1.58 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere over its lifespan, ruling that it would impact the human rights of future generations. 

Climate: Progress is happening, just not fast enough (Bloomberg)
- Bloomberg founder Michael R. Bloomberg's op-ed on why he thinks COP27 was a win for the planet, but how more work — and investment — is crucial.

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