Tag Archives: Geoff Hill

Forbes: Climate Policy Hurts the Poor More than Climate Change

Africa’s poor will be hardest hit not by ‘climate change’ but by the policies pushed by the West’s green lobby. African forests and drinking water will diminish further.

From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Have we all just entered a parallel universe where mainstream media publishes articles which make sense?

Climate Change Hurts The Poor: But Not The Way You Think It Does

Tilak Doshi
Contributor
Oct 26, 2023,03:49pm EDT

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It would seem straightforward that resolving the “climate change” problem would serve the poor the most, given that they are the hardest hit. But, by a tragic turn of irony, moves to “fight climate change” are precisely what is hurting the poor most. It is not “climate change” but the policies adopted in response to it that are the problem afflicting the poor the most.

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Most of us who take affordable electricity ‘24/7’ supply for granted are unaware of the existential constraint on people’s daily lives that a lack of electricity implies. This was brought home brilliantly by Geoff Hill at a talk in House of Lords in Westminster on Monday. Geoff is Africa correspondent for The Washington Times, the first non-American John Steinbeck Award winner and has published with the Mail & Guardian(Johannesburg), The East African (Nairobi) and across the African continent.

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This leads us to the third striking feature of the climate finance data collated by CPI. Within the 92% of the $640 billion spent on climate finance directed to climate mitigation in 2020 (as opposed to the 8% spent on adaptation), 91% (or $536 billion) was spent on solar and wind power. Yet no country in the world has developed without the dense energy available from fossil fuels. Asking Africans to leave their fossil fuels resources in the ground in return for “climate finance” from Western governments and multilateral agencies to invest on unreliable solar and wind power is plainly unworkable. Dilute, unreliable and intermittent power from the wind and the sun will not meet the continent’s quest for higher standards of living, to save the forests and to have clean water to drink.

…Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tilakdoshi/2023/10/26/climate-change-hurts-the-poor-but-not-the-way-you-think-it-does/

Well said Tilak Doshi.

The “Geoff” referred to is Zimbabwean writer Geoff Hill, who Net Zero Watch reports spoke to the British House of Lords about how lack of reliable energy is leading Africa to burn their forests. Just like Europe almost destroyed their forests, before the large scale exploitation of coal.

Net Zero Watch also provides two documents, Paper 1: Africa’s burning issue: charcoal and the loss of forest (pdf) and Paper 2: Clean water for Africa: A dream whose time has come (pdf).

I don’t have a link to Geoff’s speech, if anyone has a link please post it in comments.

I really hope this Forbes article is more than a one off glimmer of sanity. If mainstream media news outlets were to start consistently acting like real journalists again, investigating and discussing real world problems caused by climate policy, instead of uncritically cheering on every ridiculous green idea which crosses their desk for the sake of the cause, the world would rapidly become a much better place.

Clean Water for Africa: A dream whose time has come

Africa has abundant water. In many places rainfall levels are high, and the continent is home to giant river systems including the Nile, Congo, Zambezi and Volta. Dams and lakes are plentiful. The challenge lies in getting water to where it is needed.

From Net Zero Watch

Geoff Hill is a Zimbabwean writer working across Africa. In this paper, he explains why reliable energy for Africa is the only way to address the continent’s chronic lack of clean water.

To give Africans a better quality of life, we need to do more than blame the climate. There are solutions, and most of them involve electricity. That’s the key to granting everyone the basic human right of clean water.

Hill-clean-water-for-Africa-1Herunterladen

70% of Africa’s forest is gone. Without affordable energy it will vanish

In 2023, charcoal and firewood remain the dominant fuel for many households in Africa. Rapid population growth has seen an exponential rise in demand. Trees are not being cut down by people who don’t
care about the environment, but by those with few alternatives.

From Net Zero Watch

London, 24 October: Net Zero Watch is today publishing two important new papers on African energy needs and the disastrous implications of energy poverty. Written by Zimbabwean journalist Geoff Hill, the two publications were launched in Parliament yesterday evening.

70% of Africa’s forest has been cut down and the rest is falling fast. In Africa, an area the size of Switzerland is cleared of forest every year, with an estimated 90% of the wood used for cooking or heating.

Linked to this, on a continent that’s home to the Nile, Zambezi and Congo rivers, why do hundreds of millions struggle for water? Even where plumbing exists, often the dams are full but the pipes are dry.

Both problems stem from a lack of electricity: Trees are cut for charcoal and water can’t be pumped to a reservoir. In two powerful new papers, Hill looks at not only the causes, but ways the UK could help.

Speaking in the House of Lords, Hill said:

“With the Internet, people everywhere have the same expectations. Electricity, water on tap and the lifestyle we see on television. There is no room for an ‘us and them’ mentality among donor nations. Expectations are largely equal, no matter where you live.”

Paper 1: Africa’s burning issue: charcoal and the loss of forest (pdf)

Hill-Africas-burning-problemHerunterladen

“In Africa, an area the size of Switzerland is cleared of forest every year, with an estimated 90% of the wood used for cooking or to heat the home… There is a need for reliable energy, and at a price local people can afford. Without this, the forest will continue to fall and, ultimately, vanish.”

Paper 2: Clean water for Africa: A dream whose time has come (pdf)

Hill-clean-water-for-AfricaHerunterladen

“To give Africans a better quality of life, we need to do more than blame the climate. There are solutions, and most of them involve electricity. That’s the key to granting everyone the basic human right of clean water.”

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Geoff Hill is a Zimbabwean writer working across Africa. His media career began at the Manica Post in Mutare in 1980 and he has worked on all six continents, including as special reports manager for The Australian. Since 2002 he has been Africa correspondent for The Washington Times, as well as director of the African risk firm, Something of Value Ltd, and is fluent in English, Afrikaans and Shona (Zimbabwe).

Hill has served as deputy chair for the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Southern Africa, and from 2011 to 2013 he was vice president at the International Association of Genocide Scholars.