Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Key Climate Issues

As the World Resource Institute’s Managing Director for Africa and Global Partnerships, Wanjira Mathai ’94 is leading strategy and innovations to support ecosystems, resilient cities, thriving communities and sustainable energy. One of TIME’s Most Influential People of 2023, Mathai plays a critical role in connecting people across Africa with the resources, tools and opportunities to restore the environment and build social and economic resilience against a changing climate. Here, she highlights some of the key issues shaping the future of the continent and the world.

BY WANJIRA MATHAI ’94

Climate change is already having a significant impact on Africa’s ecosystems, economy and society. In 2023 alone, 1.8 million Africans were displaced during a prolonged drought, the Democratic Republic of Congo experienced catastrophic flooding, and Cyclone Freddy left a trail of destruction in Malawi and Mozambique. And these kinds of devastating events are expected to worsen as temperatures rise.

"I must say, my optimism about the future in the face of the daunting situation we are in stems from many life experiences, including my four wonderful years at HWS. Almost every learning opportunity demanded a level of curiosity and creativity that now forms the basis for how I approach all my work — questioning assumptions, exploring alternative perspectives, pursuing innovative approaches." WANJIRA MATHAI ’94, ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2023

Yet just as Africa is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, so, too, can the continent be a big part of the solution. Africa’s abundant natural resources, youngest and fastest growing workforce in the world, and the abundance of critical minerals and arable land offer many opportunities to drive low-carbon green growth, improve livelihoods and spur transformative climate action throughout the continent and the world.

GREEN MONEY

The African continent is heating up faster than any other place on Earth, resulting in withering drought, lost crops and famine. Research shows that Africa will require $579 billion in funding for adaptation through 2030, even as countries are forced to direct a greater share of their budgets toward servicing debt at the expense of financing their development and building climate resilience.

But there are opportunities. African leaders are already calling for a new global finance deal that serves the continent’s growth goals and enables effective mitigation and adaption to climate change.

Meanwhile, it is vital that wealthy nations honor their climate finance commitments, even beyond the pledge to provide $100 billion in climate finance annually by 2020, double the amount of finance for adaptation, and operationalize a dedicated fund for countries grappling with unavoidable losses and damages from climate change.

CLEAN ENERGY

Access to clean, affordable and reliable power is essential for human health, education and economic prosperity. Yet in 2021, only about 50 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa had access to electricity. What Africa requires is a balance between urgently increasing access to electricity and building out low-carbon energy systems for the future.

Solar mini-grids are a solution offering low-cost access to reliable power and have great potential to reach underserved rural areas. Meanwhile, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and South Africa are developing utility-scale solar power plants, while Namibia launched a mega-hydrogen power project last May.

Investment in clean energy technologies globally is now beginning to rival that spent on fossil fuels, but Africa still accounts for less than one percent of the $434 billion invested globally. Scaling these larger, centralized clean energy resources — as well as the physical infrastructure, policies, jobs and skills that go with them — will require significant investment.

SUSTAINABLE CITY LIVING

Avoiding some of the worst impacts of climate change requires that all cities be carbon-neutral by mid-century. This goal will be particularly difficult to achieve in Africa, where urban residents face vast inequities and populations are growing rapidly. Indeed, the population of Africa’s cities is expected to double by 2050, reaching 1.5 billion people. With an immense amount of necessary infrastructure yet to be built, development must not only be low-carbon and climate- resilient, but also enhance access to essential services such as running water and sanitation, electricity, decent housing, transport, and dignified, healthy urban jobs.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

As countries around the world transition to low-carbon economies, they’ll need increasing amounts of critical minerals like lithium, graphite and cobalt to make electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and solar panels. Africa holds about 30 percent of the world’s mineral resources, alongside abundant clean energy resources that can serve as the foundation for clean industries and commodities. But strong resource governance is essential for ensuring that Africa’s people directly derive the benefits of these resources. Following in the footsteps of countries like Namibia and Ghana, leaders should identify incentives for local processing — both to decarbonize the critical minerals value chain and spur economic development.

NATURAL SOLUTIONS

Africa is home to remarkable biodiversity. Tropical forests, savannahs, grasslands, mangroves, deserts, wetlands — these ecosystems support both rural and urban life and livelihoods across the continent.

They also benefit the world: the Congo Basin tropical forest, for example, is one of the planet’s largest carbon sinks, storing around 29 billion tons of carbon — roughly three times the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.

However, nature and biodiversity in Africa are threatened by the rapid expansion of agriculture, soil depletion, trade of illegal forest commodities and an insatiable demand for fuelwood for cooking. Between sustainable agriculture, biodiversity and carbon sinks, Africa needs investments in solutions to restore and sustain healthy landscapes — for African communities, ecosystems, economies and the world at large.