{"id":374481,"date":"2025-04-10T08:32:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T06:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=374481"},"modified":"2025-04-10T08:32:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T06:32:16","slug":"western-green-mandates-push-africa-toward-moscow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=374481","title":{"rendered":"Western Green mandates push Africa toward Moscow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Duggan Flanakin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
BERLIN, GERMANY – Oct 19, 2016: Russian President Vladimir Putin before the negotiations of leaders of states in Normandy format in Berlin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

African Energy Chamber founder and executive director NJ Ayuk is tired of European and American green energy pontificators demanding that Africa forgo developing its oil, coal, natural gas, and even nuclear resources. Maybe that\u2019s why Ayuk has led a delegation to Moscow to secure energy partnerships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An AEC press release<\/a> notes that the visit aligns with its goal of attracting diverse energy investments to meet Africa\u2019s energy needs and augments ongoing efforts to increase Russian involvement in the continent\u2019s energy market. Devdiscourse says<\/a> that Russia has been expanding its influence with African nations with a multifaceted approach that spans oil, gas, and nuclear energy sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AEC-led visit to Moscow aimed to enhance cooperation, attract Russian investments in Africa\u2019s vast energy markets, and build long-term partnerships to serve both African development goals and Russian strategic interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last September, Russian multinational energy corporation Lukoil signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Republic of Congo\u2019s ministry of hydrocarbons to enhance cooperation in oil exploration and production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Tanzania, Russia\u2019s state-owned gas giant Gazprom secured a deal to explore and produce natural gas, with an emphasis on compressed natural gas. The partnership provides Gazprom access to East Africa\u2019s untapped gas potential while deepening binational commercial ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia\u2019s nuclear power company Rosatom is currently in discussions with Rwanda to establish a nuclear science and technology center and potentially build a nuclear power plant, a project that would also involve local capacity building, specialized training, and technology transfer. Africans believe Rosatom\u2019s strategy will both provide advanced nuclear technology and enable African countries to diversify their energy sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosatom has also signed an MoU with Guinea-Conakry to develop floating nuclear power plants; three cooperation agreements with Mali to explore construction of a low-power nuclear plant; and a nuclear cooperation deal with the Republic of Congo. These and other African nations are looking to nuclear power as an option to meet their growing energy needs in addition to growing domestic oil and gas production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russians are already committed to a strong presence at the AEC-sponsored African Energy Week in Cape Town starting on September 29. The Russians intend to strengthen bilateral ties with various African nations and to position the Russian Federation as a reliable partner in both traditional energy resources and emerging technologies like nuclear power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia will have to navigate geopolitical dynamics and international competition to ensure that its investments will deliver long-term benefits for both the Federation and Africa\u2019s energy future. As for the U.S., the first Trump administration largely ignored its opportunities to invest in African energy development, but the Biden administration was very active.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem, though, was that Biden\u2019s 2022 U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa focused<\/a> on a \u201cjust\u201d energy transition that only supported energy efficiency (in a continent drastically short of electricity), renewable energy, and gas-to-power infrastructure \u2013 not oil and gas exploration and development; not nuclear energy development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden document promised to harness U.S. and African private sector investment \u201cto support the energy transition,\u201d enable energy diversification, and promote energy security, climate objectives, and economic development. To a continent starved for energy development, the primary emphasis on \u201cclimate impacts\u201d and \u201csustainable development\u201d signaled that bringing electricity to 600 million Africans without regular access was not a high priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. and the Europeans appear to have forgotten the words<\/a> of Gro Harlem Brundtland, chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development, in the Foreword to the seminal report, \u201cOur Common Future.\u201d Brundtland, while calling for sustainable development as a global goal, admitted that \u201csustainable development requires meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the opportunity to fulfill their aspirations for a better life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Africans have come around to demand is far more than what Europe and the U.S. have wanted to deliver \u2013 \u201can assurance that those poor get their fair share of the resources required to sustain \u2026 [economic] growth.\u201d They just want the freedom to do it themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their zeal to reach the mythical global \u201cnet zero\u201d carbon emissions, the West demanded that Africa, which generates less than 3% of world carbon dioxide emissions, sacrifice its abundant oil and gas resources while building \u201crenewable\u201d projects to generate carbon credits<\/a> for the benefit of European industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relying solely on this multibillion-dollar bribe would leave African nations with intermittent energy from wind turbines and solar panels that have only a 20-year lifespan. Moreover, both require backup energy sources to ensure uninterrupted electric service. And Africans today manufacture very few solar panels and turbine blades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with massive \u201ccarbon credits\u201d purchased from energy-starved Africa, a dozen<\/a> European Union nations are on track to miss their own national climate targets, and many have returned to burning coal to meet short-term energy needs. Many European economies are in trouble thanks to high energy costs and an auto industry increasingly unable<\/a> to compete with subsidized, thus cheaper, Chinese electric vehicle imports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ayuk-led mission to Moscow has been quite productive for the African delegation. The Russian Export Center\u2019s REC Group has organized several business missions to African countries later in 2025, with AEC and Cape Town-based Energy Capital & Power, Africa\u2019s leading energy investment platform, as REC\u2019s main partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ayuk pointed out that only one bank was willing to finance coal industry expansion, REC senior vice president Nikita Gusakov said the Exim Bank of Russia would have \u201cno problem\u201d financing African coal projects. Another Russian group pledged to bring to realization several central African development projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayuk, like many other Africans, has concluded that aid cannot make poor countries rich. He strongly supports Africa\u2019s oil and gas industry as a free-market solution that creates pathways for Africans to help themselves. More than generating revenue for African governments (as with carbon credits, for example), empowering Africans is AEC\u2019s top goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which makes it even stranger that the former Soviet Union, rather than the U.S. and EU nations with centuries-old free market economies, may be more willing to aid African empowerment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared at Real Clear Energy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

African Energy Chamber founder and executive director NJ Ayuk is tired of European and American green energy pontificators demanding that Africa forgo developing its oil, coal, natural gas, and even nuclear resources. Maybe that\u2019s why Ayuk has led a delegation to Moscow to secure energy partnerships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":374485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691820276,691834372,691818128,691818618,691818118,691818603],"class_list":["post-374481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-africa","tag-african-energy-chamber-aec-2","tag-energy","tag-energy-transition","tag-green-energy","tag-russia","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0shutterstock_2178756121-scaled-1.jpg?fit=2560%2C1193&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1zq1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":248524,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=248524","url_meta":{"origin":374481,"position":0},"title":"Ayuk\u2019s a just transition: Blueprint for an African century","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/19\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The 2020 African Youth Survey, sponsored by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, found that 65 percent of the 4,200 African\u00a0youth surveyed\u00a0across 14 nations believed that the 21st Century will be \u201cthe African Century.\u201d","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-718.png?fit=1200%2C858&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-718.png?fit=1200%2C858&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-718.png?fit=1200%2C858&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-718.png?fit=1200%2C858&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-718.png?fit=1200%2C858&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":378702,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=378702","url_meta":{"origin":374481,"position":1},"title":"Who will choose Africa\u2019s energy future?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/18\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Just about everywhere you turn today, one conference after another focuses on African energy and minerals development. 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regaining control of their mineral wealth","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/08\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0announcement\u00a0of the inaugural African Mining Week (AMW 2025), to be celebrated in Cape Town alongside Africa Energy Week (AEW 2025) in early October, is a clear signal that Africans are exercising new muscle toward regaining control of the continent\u2019s vast mineral resources.","rel":"","context":"In \"Africa\"","block_context":{"text":"Africa","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=africa"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Screenshot-2025-02-08-172446.png?fit=1200%2C802&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Screenshot-2025-02-08-172446.png?fit=1200%2C802&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, 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