Europe’s quest for energy fuels green colonialism in Africa

Abstract

Dr Roland Ngam is programme manager for climate justice and socioecological transformation at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Southern Africa, where he coordinates the climate blog ClimateJusticeCentral. Before that, he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Emancipatory Futures Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand.

As Europe ends its economic ties to Putin’s Russia, it has been pouring billions of dollars into Africa to urgently develop new energy infrastructure. African governments and elites have seized this opportunity, but these investments have failed to drive development aimed at the poor. ROLAND NGAM argues that “green colonialism“ must give way to new democratic infrastructure projects that benefit local populations.