Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hugh. You wouldn't be listening to this podcast right now without electricity, but millions of people in Africa remain in the dark many hours of the day because of the lack of reliable energy.
In his talk recorded for the Countdown Summit in 2021, climate inclusion activist Chibese Ezekiel shares his vision for a sustainable energy system for his part of Africa, one that's not reliant on cheap and dirty coal.
About 600 million people in Africa still don't have reliable access to electricity, and energy shortages are still a part of daily life. Africa needs energy, a lot of energy.
Chapter 2: What challenges does Africa face regarding energy access?
But the question is, what kind of energy? I want to tell you a story. My name is Chibizi Ezekiel, and I work with the Strategic Youth Network for Development. In 2013, the government of my country, Ghana, began consultations to construct a coal plant, a 700-megawatt coal plant meant to be sited at Okunfi District, a coastal fishing community in the central region of Ghana.
It would have required a US$1.5 billion loan from the China African Development Bank. And because Ghana has no coal reserves, the project made provision to import 2 million tons of coal annually from South Africa. So I ask again, Ghana and Africa need energy, but what kind of energy? In Africa, job creation and economic opportunities are their priority.
And those were the same arguments that were made by those who were in support of the project. They claimed
Chapter 3: What story does Chibeze Ezekiel share about coal power in Ghana?
that the project or the coal plant would have created jobs for the local youth and also expanded the economy of the country. But we know that coal is the most polluting form of power generation. We are also aware that from a purely economic point of view, coal is cheap. But that is only true when we ignore the non-economic impact of coal. Talk about wastewater,
fly ash, emissions of sulfur and mercury, which would have posed serious health and environmental risk to the Okunfi population. In our part of the world, we have people who depend on water bodies for bathing, for cooking, for washing and even for drinking. So what this means is that it's going to have a devastating impact on their source of livelihood and their life as a whole.
So this shows that the adverse impact of coal far outweighs the economic benefit. Ghana and Africa need energy, but we don't want coal to be that energy. We managed to shut down the coal plant, and we didn't want coal to be part of the country's energy system. But it did take a bit of fighting. When we learned of the plan to build a coal plant, we began engaging the local communities.
We took an approach known as a submarine approach. So basically what that means is that we never went on social media, we didn't go publicly, we didn't engage the media on our reservations.
We spent days with the people in the community, talking to the chiefs, the elders, the women groups, the youth networks, to inquire from them whether they have all the necessary knowledge about the coal plant, because it is their right to have adequate information. And that is what we did. We brought them information about the negative impact of coal in other countries.
We also had to assure them that the jobs being promised them does not guarantee long-term benefits. we also sought for their input in our advocacy campaign. In our engagements with the local communities, we realized that most of them were not even aware of the consequences of the coal plant. They have actually been assured by the promoters that the plant will be clean and safe for residents.
Others also had their own reservations, but didn't know who to channel them to. we teamed up with other NGOs working in the environmental sector. It was only when the local community got well-informed about the plant to challenge the promoters' claim that that gave us the time to bring out the submarine approach.
That was when we began social media campaigns, organized press conferences, and did a lot of media engagement to also share our views against the coal plant. We also accompanied our campaign against coal plants with the need for renewable energy.
And I must say that I was very surprised when the government of Ghana chose to back down on the construction of the coal plants, having heard our concerns and the voices of the local communities. Indeed, the then Minister of Environment at a press conference announced that Ghana is not going to build a coal plant having signed the Paris Climate Agreement.
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Chapter 4: Why is coal considered a poor choice for energy in Africa?
In 2019, government released our Renewable Energy Master Plan, which shows a very comprehensive plan on the development of renewable energy in Ghana. Among others, the plan seeks to increase by 30 times our renewable energy development by 2030 and also create more than 200,000 jobs by 2030. Some countries have shut down or are planning to shut down their coal plants.
Others, too, are frantically planning to build coal plants. Once a coal plant is built, it becomes part of the energy system for decades. But our experience shows that resistance is possible. How? By bringing into the conversation the adverse impacts and externalities of coal plants. Secondly, also by providing clean alternatives.
And more importantly, by involving the local communities, because they are the first to be impacted, and they must also have a say in the conversation. In the last decade, technology has moved at a fast pace. It has lowered its costs dramatically. Africa can and must develop with all the energy it requires without incurring the disastrous impact of cold, i.e.
health and environmental consequences. Development in clean, breathable air must not be mutually exclusive. Thank you.
TED Talks Daily is hosted by me, Elise Hu, and produced by TED. Theme music is from Allison Leighton-Brown, and our mixer is Christopher Fasey-Bogan. We record the talks at TED events we host or from TEDx events, which are organized independently by volunteers all over the world. And we'd love to hear from you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or email us at podcasts at TED.com.
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