LAGOS: Africa is sometimes better known for its vulnerability to climate change than its action on the problem - but African cities intend to change that.
Eight cities - from Accra to Dar es Salaam - pledged this week to deliver their share of emissions cuts needed to meet Paris Agreement targets to limit climate change.
That means achieving “zero carbon” city economies by 2050 - with climate changing emissions eliminated, or dramatically reduced and any small remaining emissions offset by other green actions.
“We cannot ignore the implications of what will befall us if we do not act now,” said Mohammed Adjei Sowah, the mayor of Accra, Ghana’s capital, at a planning meeting in Nigeria on urban climate action in Africa.
Pursuing development in the way it’s traditionally been done is no longer feasible, he said in Lagos at the launch of the emissions-cutting push.
Achieving the aim will require significant work. According to the World Bank, of the top 10 big world cities with the lowest climate-changing emissions, only one - Johannesburg - is in Africa.
Under the new commitments, cities will work to reduce emissions from transport, buildings, energy production and waste management - an effort some have already started.
The City of Tshwane, for instance, has carried out an inventory of its emissions, to better understand which areas need the most urgent work.
The city’s mayor also has for four years organised the African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum, which led to the creation of a sustainability unit in Tshwane’s mayoral office.
Besides Accra, Tshwane and Dar es Salaam, other African cities that have signed the new pledge include Addis Ababa, Lagos, Dakar, Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
Nairobi and Abidjan are expected to submit their plans to take part soon, said Mark Watts, executive director of the C40 Cities alliance, a global network of cities tackling climate change.
To try to achieve the Paris Agreement goals, cities signed on to the new African effort commit to reduce their carbon emissions to zero by 2050.
Sowah said he believes it is possible to dramatically cut urban African emissions, particularly as more African cities become aware of the impact of worsening climate extremes, from recurring droughts and floods to failed crops.
The World Bank projects that 70% of the world’s population could live in cities by 2050, and Africa is expected to account for half of the world’s population growth by 2050. Lagos struggles with heavy pollution from its traffic jams, while its population of 21 million produces huge waste.