By: Mabel Adorkor Annang
As countries prepare for COP28, to discuss phasing out fossil fuels and a new climate damage fund for the Global South, Governments and regulatory agencies have been called upon to prioritize methane management efforts within the oil and gas sector.
This was the call at a Pre-COP 28 Technical workshop in Accra organized by the Society of Petroleum Engineers SPE, Ghana Section to discuss finding the pathway to Net-Zero, the African way.
At COP28 the EU and some delegations will push hard for the phase-out of fossil fuels. This will not go down well with fossil fuel nations as Africa has decided to transition at its own pace.
As Africa prepares to transition the African way, stakeholders in the industry say methane emission must be managed to help reduce Carbon emissions. Methane is a powerful short-lived climate pollutant emitted by oil and gas extraction, livestock, wetlands, and landfills.
Methane has a big impact on climate change in the near-term which means that targeting it is an important tool in fighting a warming planet.
Currently there is uncertainty about the quantity of methane emitted from offshore global oil and gas infrastructure.
Policy Lead on Climate change and Energy Transition at the Africa Center for Energy Policy, ACEP Dr. Charles Ofori pointed out that with better data, oil and gas companies can effectively prioritize their work to reduce methane emissions and governments can also target policies that aim to do the same.
“A shared commitment among governments and companies is also required. And most of the time there’s this contention about who should be responsible for investment, in meeting the mission’s abasement efforts. Governments say industries should do it; the industries say governments should support. But the point is that we need to begin to have a conversation to see where we cannot reach a compromise, and have a shared understanding of what roles as government and as an industry should be.”
A Senior Lecturer and Net-Zero Consultant at KNUST, Dr. Yen Adams Sokama-Neuyam said Government must develop a National Energy Transition Research Consortium.
Dr. Sokama-Neuyam stated that, “We want the country to fund energy transition research. Not to depend on external partners, but we as a country should make the effort to put our money and our resources into it. We don’t want the situation we are just giving money to researchers to get them off our back. We are a new generation. We want a situation where the government is involved, we are all involved, right from the idea conception to commercialization of the technology.”
Chief Executive of Eureka Energy Solutions, Dr. Yusif Sulemana wondered if Africa can be forced to Transition?
“Who is going to guarantee us, just energy transition? The answer is, Nobody. Nobody except ourselves can guarantee us this Just energy transition that we are talking about. The same thing applies to saying can we be forced to transition? It’s the same paradigm. Yes! Africa can be forced to transition” Dr. Sulemana noted.
The Section Chairperson of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Sheena Owusu-Ansah said Africans must find innovative ways to Net Zero and must be sustainable.
“The path to excel is not without its challenges. It requires bold and innovative solutions, investment in sustainable infrastructure and a commitment to reimagining our economies” she added.
Stakeholders say it is about time African nations start putting measures in place to utilize their natural resources both renewables and fossil fuels as a step to transition.