Blog 4 - COP26 and North Africa

Climate Change in North Africa 

Following the 2015 Paris Agreement at the COP21, the COP26 was hosting 200 countries in the hope of accelerating the implementation of the former pact. The Glasgow Climate Pact highlight the global success of limiting the rise of temperature to 1.5C so far, although efforts need to be maintained and every country fulfil its pledge. The UK's presidency of the COP26 focused on 4 pillars guiding the global discussion during the weeks of the COP26: 1-Mitigation, to set a near global net zero, 2-Adaptation, to address the impact of climate change and set further effort, 3-Finance, to reduce the financing of fossil fuel energy sector and mobilise funds for climate change and finally 4-Collaboration, to discuss cooperation measures among government, civil society and private sector on the ‘enhanced transparency framework’ (UKCOP26 2021). 

 

North African Countries' pledge at the COP26 

Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia were represented at the COP26 by their foreign minister or energy minister. Egypt's president Adbel Fattah al-Sissi was attending himself the conference (TheAfricaReport 2021). Countries of North Africa seems to be moving forward in their pledge on tackling climate change, however, most have had difficulties signing on the pledges of the mitigation points. We have observed the speech and declaration of North African countries and indeed each country is seeking to reduce its greenhouse gas emission and increase its consumption of renewable energy, however there are reservation regarding the lack of aid from Western countries and the impact it would have on the economy. 

 

Morocco: 

Morocco pledged to implement a green and inclusive economy by 2030. This practically means that Morocco is looking to increase its renewable energy consumption at 25% of the total energy consumption of the country. It plans to rely on 20% of solar energy, 20% of wind energy and 12% of hydro-energy (Morocco WorldNews 2021). This would allow the country to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45.5% by 2030. Morocco also signed onto the pledged to cut methane emission levels by 30% by 2030(Morocco WorldNews 2021).  

Tunisia: 

Tunisia reviewed its goals for 2030 and pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 45.5% as promised by Morocco, and to achieve carbon neutral economy by 2050. Tunisia signed onto the pledged to cut methane emission levels by 30% by 2030 (Webdo 2021). The country will be aiming to make the share of renewable energy used out of the total energy consumption reach 30% by 2030 (WebM 2021).

 

Algeria: 

Algeria pledged on greenhouse gas emission is lower than its neighbours, agreeing for a reduction of 7% by 2030, as the Algerian government believes that the country would require financial and material aid for a more significant impact. The country believes that developed country should be the first concerned by reducing the global greenhouse gas emissions and are not in the position to enforce such measure on developing countries without considering this gap or providing financial aid, according to the Minister for the Environment Samia Moualfi (APS 2021). 

Libya: 

Libya Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah was present at the COP26 and stated Libya's project to replace liquid fuel by natural gas in all of Libya's electrical plants and to stop gas burning practices in the oil industry (MiddleEastEye 2021). Libya pledged to cut methane emission levels by 30% by 2030 as part of the SDG goals (Libyaobserver 2021). 

Sissi's speech at the COP26

Egypt: 

Egypt PM said the country will be aiming to make the share of renewable energy used out of the total energy consumption reach 42% by 2035, which is now at 20%. Egypt also mentioned that it believes that Africa is not responsible for climate change crisis but faces the most negative repercussions and calls for international aid for implementing the Paris Agreement. Egypt will be hosting the next COP27 in 2022 in Sharm el Sheikh (AlJazeera 2021). 

 

Considering each country’s dedication to increase its effort in tackling climate change, it is nonetheless to contradictory to see below that most countries did not ratify the mitigation points or did not set a target for net zero emission. 

 

 North African countries stands on mitigation point

 

	End of Coal Power	Halting and Reversing Deforestation	Speeding up the switch to electric vehicles	Reducing methane emission	GHG emission reduction, net zero date
Morocco	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (45%), no target set
Algeria	No	No	No	No	Yes (7%), no target set
Tunisia	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (45.5%), 2050
Libya	No	No	No	Yes	No target set
Egypt	Yes	No	No	No	No target set

 

Table 1: The Glasgow Climate Pact. 

The previous COP led developed countries to pledge to provide £72 billion by 2020 to developing countries to tackle climate change, which has not been met. Most of the government money for climate action was in the form of loans which still is a burden for countries which are already facing economic pressure. The COP26 agreement provides to give more money in grants rather than loans but there are still questions around the commitment of developed countries to respect their commitment when the previous one had failed. Countries like Algeria or Egypt believes that it is unfair to obligate developing countries to the same targets and pressure on climate action as the developed countries, without providing the required funding. Developing countries may therefore keep on withdrawing or avoiding ambitious targets on climate actions without a regular support from the international community (BBC 2021). 

 

Next Events to wait for: 

COP27 in Egypt, 2022

Middle East and North Africa Climate Week 2022, in the UAE, 28 February and 3 March 2022.