2017 has been a tough year for the climate movement. Devastating climate impacts have been accelerating and an increasingly difficult political climate have made holding onto hope difficult.
2018 will be crucial in the fight for a Fossil Free Africa. Now more than ever, it’s all hands on deck, and we need you with us. We know that words are cheap and now concrete action is urgently required by all of society to have any hope of achieving this goal.
Building on Cape Town’s announcement last year that they have committed to divest from fossil fuels, earlier this month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city is divesting its $191 billion pension funds from fossil fuels. As if that wasn’t a big enough moment on its own, there’s more. He also announced a lawsuit against some of the biggest oil and gas corporations for the damage caused by climate change. This shows that our movement is stronger than ever — the health and safety of our communities is more important than fossil fuel company profits.
Closer to home, Africans are leapfrogging fossil fuels altogether. I’m proud to share the story of how people in Ghana are embracing renewable energy. Ghana is still praised as one of the most stable African democracies since the dawn of African independence led by the iconic Kwame Nkrumah, and now they are choosing independence from coal.