This newsletter gives you highlights of selected sustainability insights that were, perhaps, too long (you) didn’t read (TLDR) or there’s just too much out there to read. The highlights presented cover insights gleaned from a global, regional (African), and national (Kenyan) perspective. Happy reading!
GLOBAL
EU Climate Ministers Pass Law to Restore Nature in the EU
The EU passed its landmark law to restore 20% of its degraded ecosystems by 2030. About 80% of EU habitats are in poor shape, the new law sets the ambition to restore 30% of nature by land and sea by 2030 and all degraded ecosystems by 2050 – this includes planting 3bn trees, restoring peatlands and increasing pollinators e.g. bees, flies, small bats, beetles, small mammals, birds etc.
The controversial law will require EU countries to set binding targets to rehabilitate nature with a focus on habitats with significant potential for carbon capture, and nature’s ecosystem services e.g. cleaning water, pollinating plants, and reducing impacts of natural disasters. This also includes preventing deterioration of already restored areas, and removing man-made barriers in rivers to improve connectivity and flow.
Although the details are yet to be worked out, and importantly funding found to realise nature’s restoration; the law is a milestone for the EU and its people.
My two-cents: The global Biodiversity Agreement committed to by world leaders in late 2022, is (slowly) starting to take shape in regional and national policy. We are losing nature globally at rates never experienced before, yet the human species and countless other species rely on nature to exist. The expression ‘biting the hand that feeds you’ comes to mind, with a twist to ‘gobbling the hand that feeds you’.
Human Development Index Report 2023/2024
In March 2024, UNDP published its latest Human Development Index Report. Human development focuses on improving the lives of people, and does not assume that economic growth means improved lives. It measures: long and healthy life, education and standard of living.
The latest report 2023/2024 delivers some key insights:
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OECD countries reached record human development, while half of the world’s poorest fell backwards.
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After two decades of reducing inequalities between wealthy and poor countries this is now reversing.
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All developing countries did not meet their HDI levels projected before 2019, which suggests long term setbacks in human development progress.
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Agency is also low, with half of the world expressing they don’t have control over their lives; and 68% of people say they have little influence in decisions of their government
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Our world today is so interconnected and reliant, de-globalization isn’t feasible as no region is self-sufficient.
Global and regional cooperation as well as human ingenuity for the betterment of humanity will be fundamental to solving human development gaps – particularly in the face of a climate crisis, nature crisis, exacerbating inequality and expanding digital divides (among others).
My two-cents: It’s a bleak picture, as are many global pictures for human wellbeing. With all the elections taking place this year, it will be interesting to see at the end of 2024, if the leaders we selected opt to prioritise human development and wellbeing; or economic growth (on a finite planet) – as the human development index shows, and perhaps many developing countries can attest to; economic growth doesn’t necessarily translate to better lives or living.
AFRICA
UN Economic Report on Africa 2024
The UN’s Economic Commission for Africa, published its 2024 economic report: Investing in a Just and Sustainable Transition in Africa. The report, makes the case for investing in a just and sustainability transition for the continent aimed primarily at policy makers but gives a strategic pathway that is insightful for other stakeholders genuinely interested in Africa’s sustainable development and realization of Africa’s Agenda 2063 (The Africa We Want).
It’s important to remember that these transitions, have never been done before – there is no manual or playbook from any other region, country to follow nor at the scale that these transitions are needed. It will be uncertain, complex and will rely on Africa’s policymakers understanding, (dare I say) foresight, and agility to design and manage these transitions in and for the next decade and beyond.
Social and economic development gains from previous decades, have been reversed by a mélange of crises in recent years (and ongoing) e.g. C-19, extreme weather events, Russia’s war on Ukraine. Today, 1/3 of the continent’s population are in poverty. Africa’s just and sustainable transition will need to bank on social mitigation, environmental sustainability and low-carbon industrialization – that means new business and industrial models e.g. circular and technology based. Some key points highlighted by the report are:
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This is the continent’s opportunity to shape it’s sustainable development trajectory and the sustainability transition globally.
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Investment in the continent’s transition is minimal despite the opportunities it presents globally.
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Africa’s transitions need to be Africa-led, prioritising its best interests and rely on key enablers like collaborative governance, resource-efficient technologies, etc to succeed.
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Fundamental shifts will be required to transition from an extractive-economy to a value-adding, productive economy driven by renewable energy.
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Decisions will need to be guided by long-term vision and strategies to maximize benefits for Africa’s people and economies e.g. AFfCFTA – the continent’s visionary and ambitious trade agreement.
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Financing is required for Africa’s transitions, and that will require the much sought after, reform in the international financial architecture. At the same time, there is opportunity to expand country fiscal space leveraging natural resources in national accounting and planning, limiting illicit financial flows, and using the continent’s agency in geopolitics.
The report provides eight key policy recommendations from national planning, private sector role, to natural capital planning, innovative financing, and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
The ideal end goal of just and sustainable transitions for Africa would be meeting the basic needs of its people, creating useful jobs and livelihoods and ensuring healthy ecosystems. Meaning all +50 countries on the continent would deliver strategies for their just and sustainable transitions, in line with a wider continental ambition.
My two-cents: The continent’s future lies in the hands of (current) policy makers and politicians…sigh. But we live in a BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, Incomprehensible) world today, so I will expect the unexpected.
Africa’s AI Strategy and Digital Compact
African ICT and Communications Ministers have endorsed a continental AI strategy and Digital Compact to unlock and accelerate the continent’s digital transformation. The AI strategy champions Africa-owned, people-centred, development-oriented, and inclusive approaches to national AI strategies. Few countries on the continent have national AI strategies e.g. Mauritius, Rwanda, Egypt; so this guiding regional strategy is timely. Compared to other regions, African countries lag behind for various reasons such as infrastructure, connectivity, financial investment, etc.; but this is fast changing and over 2000 companies, about 40% start-ups are carving the way. Hopes for AI on the continent will centre around education, health, agriculture, peace, governance, security and infrastructure. Africa’s Digital Compact aims to also position the continent as an innovator and producer, not only a consumer.
The Ministers also endorsed Africa’s Digital Compact, as a common vision and voice for the continent’s digital future – a vital alignment as world leaders convene in September 2024, for the UN Summit for the Future’s Global Digital Compact. This global compact aims to ensure responsible and inclusive digital technologies for all that also bridge digital divides, are safe and provide inclusive environments.
Africa’s position on AI and digital technologies couldn’t have come sooner to plug into global and regional policy and discussions. For example, the EU is developing a treaty outlining global standards for AI, yet African views were not part of the global contributions sought towards this EU AI treaty. The EU treaty is to be ratified in early September 2024.
Despite, slow policy progress on the continent, technology companies are making tracks to start building skills and competencies, e.g. the African Development Bank and Intel have partnered to equip 3M people including 30K government officials with AI skills and increasing AI investment on the continent e.g. Microsoft and G42 recent announcement of a USD 1Bn AI investment in Kenya, following meetings between the US and Kenya’s Presidents.
My two-cents: Let’s see if technology will be a much needed enabler for inclusive and sustainable development for Africa’s needs –that requires leadership foresight.
KENYA
Kenya’s First Nuclear Power Plant Faces Opposition
Kenya has put plans in place to build its first ever nuclear power plant by 2034 (in 10 years) lead by the country’s Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA).
Destined for Kenya’s southern coastline in Kilifi County, environmentalists are challenging the environmental and economic cost-benefit, and residents argue public participation was poorly done; as a result, a lawsuit has been filed in the environmental court given the high-risk nature of a nuclear plant. Coastal communities are terrified at the prospects of something going wrong and the detrimental impacts to their lives, ecosystems, the ocean and aquatic life. Additionally, for the tourism industry, that a nuclear plant is going to be built in the idyllic southern coastline, will cause a drop in real estate value, tourist traffic and negatively affect the local fishing industry.
The Kenyan government considers nuclear power, a key renewable energy resource for it’s low-carbon industrialization plans; as solar and wind are not available all the time and hydro power is being impacted by climate change. Experts highlight that Kenya will need significant power infrastructure upgrades to manage nuclear power, and capacity to transfer power to the entire country from the coast – all of which are not in place yet.
Kenya must learn and implement lessons from leading nuclear power countries like Germany, Japan to navigate and manage nuclear energy (Remember: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima nuclear disasters).
But Kenya isn’t the only country on the continent looking to transition to nuclear power for its growing energy needs. In East Africa – Rwanda and Tanzania are also moving in this direction; while Ghana is selecting a company to build it’s 1st nuclear power plant by end 2024. South Africa already generates 5% of its electricity from nuclear power and Egypt has begun constructing a nuclear power plant; as examples.
In August 2024, Kenya is set to host the next US-Africa Nuclear Summit, where Kenya’s nuclear agency (nuPEA) is expected to make some key announcements.
My two-cents: As nuPEA prepares for Kenya’s nuclear power trajectory – I truly hope that an exceptionally high standard of leadership, management, culture, work ethic, zero-margin for error,… are being embedded into the organization’s people and processes. The reality is nuclear energy, where its ‘accepted’, is and can be a source of low-emission electricity.