Post by cjm on Aug 24, 2017 8:20:17 GMT
Africa To Play The Trump Card on Coal: For Poverty Alleviation
In June 2017, Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Accord on climate change, to scorn of the Left and some in his own party.
America is the only country so far to pull out, but many have yet to ratify the treaty through their home parliament: major players like Russia, Turkey, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
The Dutch have pledged not to fund coal-fired power stations overseas but haven’t ratified the Paris deal, and Holland is the world’s largest importer of US coal.
But the biggest bloc is in Africa where nearly a quarter of the 47 parties to Paris have not made it law at home, including the Congo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Now, Mr Trump looks set to alter how the Accord spends its Green Fund, a multi-billion-dollar purse donated by rich countries to help poorer ones lower their emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases.
Instead of wind or solar projects that rely on imported equipment, the White House wants the Green Fund to help countries like Ghana or Tanzania burn coal more cleanly to generate power and stem poverty.
Together, all the electricity plants of sub-Saharan Africa don’t produce even half the output of a single country like Japan.
America is the only country so far to pull out, but many have yet to ratify the treaty through their home parliament: major players like Russia, Turkey, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
The Dutch have pledged not to fund coal-fired power stations overseas but haven’t ratified the Paris deal, and Holland is the world’s largest importer of US coal.
But the biggest bloc is in Africa where nearly a quarter of the 47 parties to Paris have not made it law at home, including the Congo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Now, Mr Trump looks set to alter how the Accord spends its Green Fund, a multi-billion-dollar purse donated by rich countries to help poorer ones lower their emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases.
Instead of wind or solar projects that rely on imported equipment, the White House wants the Green Fund to help countries like Ghana or Tanzania burn coal more cleanly to generate power and stem poverty.
Together, all the electricity plants of sub-Saharan Africa don’t produce even half the output of a single country like Japan.