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  • 🚁 Heli view: Where Trumps hinders – and helps – to green Africa

🚁 Heli view: Where Trumps hinders – and helps – to green Africa

In his first term, Donald Trump became the first US president since Ronald Reagan in the 1980s not to visit the African continent. 

  • He sent his daughter instead, see the above photo from 2019. 

From afar: In the first week of his second term he may nonetheless have impacted Africa more than any foreign leader in living memory. Mostly but not exclusively for the worse. 

The deeds: Trump made a series of decisions that were not aimed at Africa but will have some of their most dramatic effects here. They include:

  • Withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement

  • Blocking support for renewable energy projects

  • Slowing or freezing overseas aid of many kinds

  • Withdrawal from the World Health Organisation (WHO)

The backdrop: This is driven by a generalised hostility in his administration to a green economy and to support of foreign allies and developing nations. 

The effect: Africa has felt the chill instantly. Over the past decade, the targets of Trumpian slashing had fuelled a green investment and talent boom on the continent. 

  • No Trump cut on its own is fatal. But together they change the weather. 

Public money: US taxpayer funds had been a major driver of green growth in Africa. 

  • In the second half of last year, this amounted to $32 billion across 400 projects. 

  • On a visit to Angola, President Biden increased US funding for the Lobito corridor to export minerals critical for batteries by $600 million to $4 billion.

Corporate money: Carbon credits from Africa were often sold to US companies, including the major tech companies whose CEOs attended Trump’s inauguration.

  • Meta used to shop for carbon credits across the globe.

  • Now its founder Mark Zuckerberg calls for more “masculinity”.

Philanthropic money: Grants for green projects are likely depressed too. 

  • The Bezos Earth Fund had been one of the biggest green funders on the continent. 

  • Now its founder, Jeff Bezos, is vying to have dinner with the new president.

International money: The indirect impact of Trumpian slashing cascades further. 

  • The WHO was a leader in fighting the healthcare impact of climate change in Africa.

  • The American withdrawal is leaving a big hole in its budget. 

European money: There is also a knock-on effect in Europe, where far-right parties have started to mimic Trump and push to “kill the Green Deal”. 

  • This could impact the largest source of green funding in Africa: EU taxpayers.

The good news: Some positives for Africa do come out of this. 

  • Increasingly shut out of American markets, China is likely to focus further on Africa.

  • This is especially relevant in the renewable energy and electric mobility sectors. 

  • African governments could negotiate not only for more cheap imports but also the setting up of local manufacturing facilities.

Hello talent: Many American climate leaders, engineers and financiers will find their home nation a less attractive place to work. 

  • African leaders would do well to offer them free work visas to come solve the planet’s biggest problem where the needs are greatest. 

  • Europe has already spotted this opportunity. The EU central bank suggested attracting “disillusioned” US talent across the Atlantic. 

Hard noses: Perverse financial benefits may also derive from US climate-unfriendly policies. 

  • Rising investment in fossil fuels will depress fuel import costs and hence inflation, says Kenya, freeing up funds for green investment. 

  • Funders still seeking to invest in green infrastructure will find America less attractive, hence boosting Africa’s appeal by comparison. 

Next steps: African leaders are already burning up phone lines to confer on all the above. Here are three things they could do: 

  • Make a fuss internationally. Fly to France together to demand the west sticks with the Paris Agreement. Trump is known to react to pressure. 

  • Directly engage philanthropists and funders. Jeff Bezos’s Amazon is opening up in South Africa. Remind him of his Earth Fund commitments in Africa.

  • Talk to China about a new cross-continental deal. Maybe that will wake the envious deal-maker in Trump.

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