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9 - Between Europe and the People’s Republic of China: Understanding Africa’s Energy Transition

from Part I - Comparing Climate Policies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2024

Ottavio Quirico
Affiliation:
University of New England, University for Foreigners of Perugia and Australian National University, Canberra
Walter Baber
Affiliation:
California State University, Long Beach
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Summary

Africa’s unique vulnerability to climate change has become entrenched as a central theme in international climate politics and has precipitated a transformation in climate policy on the continent from relative disorganisation to effective and unified cooperation in the span of barely 30 years. In the same period, Africa has also emerged as one of the fastest growing and most promising regions in the world economy. In light of these developments, and spurred by an international discourse of ‘energy transition’, a new wave of European foreign direct investment headlined by renewable energy has crested – with Africa in its sights. This contribution will explore the efficacy of such investments as a vehicle for ‘exporting’ European climate policy, and the extent to which these policy aims are compatible with similarly massive investments into Africa from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). By interrogating the focus of energy investments from Europe and the PRC, both in terms of stated aims and actual outcomes, it will posit that the success of Africa’s energy transition will depend in large part on the PRC’s sincerity about its domestic and international climate ambition.

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Chapter
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Implementing Climate Change Policy
Designing and Deploying Net Zero Carbon Governance
, pp. 147 - 168
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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