EU Energy Remedy for Africa May Jumpstart Global-Warming Talks

By Jeremy van Loon

Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- A deadlock in international global warming negotiations may be snapped with help from a surprise proposal by the European Union to share renewable-energy technologies with African nations.

Europe, seeking a new ``ally'' in limiting global carbon- dioxide emissions, also may offer funding to African countries to develop their economies ``sustainably'' under environmental rules, Anders Turesson, Sweden's chief climate negotiator, said in an interview. Nations from the two continents will meet Nov. 20 in Algeria to consider the proposals, he said.

Ending the international stalemate may require coaxing some developing nations to break ranks with others such as China, which has called for a unified demand on rich countries to fund clean energy and forest protection. About 190 nations will resume negotiations on Dec. 1 in Poznan, Poland, amidst a financial crisis that weighs on national budgets.

``An agreement between the EU and Africa might change the tone of the discussions in Poznan and send a positive signal,'' Elise Buckle, a climate policy analyst at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Gland, Switzerland, said. ``It would cause internal pressure within the G77 and help to move the discussion along.''

The G77 group of developing nations that includes China, India as well as Latin American and African countries has rejected emissions rules. It has blamed the atmosphere's buildup of heat-trapping air pollution largely on vehicles, factories and power plants operated by wealthier nations during the last century.

China Versus U.S.

China and the U.S., the world's largest producers of greenhouse gases, have taken opposite positions on new rules.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, the climate-protection treaty set to expire in 2012, richer countries are obliged to cut emissions while poorer nations aren't. Most of the current increase in CO2 output is coming from emerging economies in Asia and Africa. In response, the U.S., Canada and other developed economies are calling for limits for G77 members as well, deadlocking talks.

Bringing the poorest continent into regional climate agreements may weaken the negotiating strength of the G77. Also, Africa deserves the initiatives, analysts say.

``Africa has been sidelined'' in the climate-change process, said Aimie Parpia, an analyst at New Carbon Finance in London. ``Investment risk has been too high for the private sector and that has held back progress.''

Namibian-Dutch Project

Namibian investors, with the help of the Dutch government, plan a wind-power plant in the southern African country in one of the few renewable-energy projects to take root with joint financing. In a sign of the potential for cooperation between Europe and Africa, the Netherlands has guaranteed to fund almost a third of the project, according to the chief executive of Namibia's Electricity Control Board.

The 53-nation African Union will negotiate with the 27- member European bloc later this month in Algeria, said a Tunisian environment ministry adviser who declined to be named.

Africa and Europe have the potential to cooperate in carbon markets and forestry protection as well as desertification projects. Energy investments especially make sense because of the proximity between the two regions, Turesson said. Turesson, an official with Sweden's environment ministry, gave no details of the proposals.

Moroccan Winds

``You can imagine projects like wind power in Morocco and deserts full of solar panels supplying electricity to Europe,'' he said on Nov. 5. ``There are many substantive issues like development, poverty and adaptation to climate change.''

Avoiding hardships in Africa, such as regions becoming increasingly dry and unsuitable for cultivation, will help stem the pressure on people to illegally immigrate to Europe.

Environment ministers from 40 nations met last month in Warsaw to lay the groundwork for new climate-change regulations that may raise costs for polluting industries such as power generation and transportation. The climate-change negotiations are made more difficult by the financial crisis, Astrid Klug, Germany's deputy environment minister, said on Oct. 13.

France, whose President Nicolas Sarkozy holds the EU's rotating presidency, is keen to promote and advance ties between the European bloc and the African Union, Turesson said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at jvanloon@bloomberg.net