Carlos Lopes for PS Say More

The PS Say More Newsletter | [View this message in a web browser]( [PS Say More]( Welcome to Say More, a weekly newsletter offering readers exclusive insights into the ideas, interests, and personalities of some of the world’s leading thinkers. In each issue, a Project Syndicate contributor is invited to expand on topics covered in their commentaries, address new issues, and share recommendations about everything from books and recordings to hobbies and social media. This week, Project Syndicate catches up with [Carlos Lopes]( a professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town, High Representative of the African Union for partnerships with Europe, and a member of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. Carlos Lopes Says More… Project Syndicate[Carlos Lopes]( In February, you praised African governments for their efforts to shift away from coal, but argued that more must be done. The continent’s governments, you [wrote]( “should strengthen strategies and policies aimed at encouraging the transition to a new climate economy and increasing investment in clean energy.” Where should policymakers start? Carlos Lopes: Shifting away from coal (and fossil fuels in general) is a way of safeguarding the future, not only from an environmental perspective, but also from an economic one. Today’s historically low oil prices – prices were even negative for May futures – should be a wake-up call for Africa’s fossil-fuel producers, such as Algeria, Angola, and Nigeria. Further investment will only make these countries more dependent on oil – and thus more vulnerable to oil-price volatility. Add to that the fact that 42% of coal-fired power plants worldwide are losing money under normal circumstances, and it could not be more obvious that a prosperous future for Africa does not lie in fossil fuels. The private sector increasingly recognizes the financial risks implied by continued dependence on fossil fuels: private finance has been shifting away from coal in recent years, and has also begun shifting away from oil and gas investments. They know that prices will not simply bounce back. So, yes, African countries must commit to a structural economic transformation that places them on a path toward industrialization unlike that followed by the advanced economies. One urgent priority is to ensure that increasingly cost-competitive renewable energy is widely available, and thus able to power a modern manufacturing sector. Another is to invest in sustainable infrastructure. As latecomers, African countries have a distinct advantage. They can learn from others’ industrialization experiences, leapfrog over now-obsolete technologies, and seize new opportunities. PS: Of course, any clean-energy policies implemented today would be “competing” with COVID-19, which is capturing the entire world’s attention and claiming its resources. Could some of the green-economy imperatives you advocate (such as adopting renewables and boosting energy efficiency) complement those highlighted by the pandemic (from strengthening health systems to ensuring food security) within a broader sustainability strategy? CL: If you ask leaders in countries that depend oil revenues – such as Algeria, Angola, Libya, or Nigeria – they will tell you they are in shock, and don’t know where to begin. The COVID-19 outbreak and oil-price collapse decimated their hopes of using oil revenues to make up for poor economic management. With those revenues gone, they have nowhere to hide. I see the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to eliminate fossil-fuel subsidies and reform complex taxation arrangements that have discouraged reform in the past. This transition will be easier than ever today, because low-carbon solutions are now often cheaper over their lifetime than old-fashioned approaches, and they are more readily available than ever before. Low-carbon solutions also amount to a huge investment opportunity: of the $13.3 trillion projected to be invested in new power generation by 2050, an estimated 77% will go to renewables. As Africa’s economies struggle to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, such investment will prove invaluable. Finally, reducing fossil-fuel production would reduce deadly air pollution, which killed about 250,000 people in Africa in 2013, up 36% from 1990. Air pollution has been cited as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 cases, so the public-health implications of a rapid transition away from coal and other fossil fuels should be at the top of our minds. To read the rest of our interview with Lopes – in which he outlines three ways the COVID-19 crisis could be used to entrench a green agenda in Africa, worries that Europe could cut aid to Africa, and calls for debt relief – [click here](. If you are not yet a PS subscriber, [subscribe now](. PS Topic [The COVID-19 Crisis]( All the latest insights and analysis on the escalating – and evolving – pandemic from PS commentators. Previously in Say More [Shang-Jin Wei]( – a former chief economist at the Asian Development Bank – urged countries to reduce trade barriers, offered a baseline scenario for China's economy in 2020, and highlighted what Chinese and Americans are missing about each other. [Read more](. [Anya Schiffrin]( – the director of the media and communications program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs – said what US President Donald Trump should learn from his Namibian counterpart, proposed supply-side solutions to misinformation, and discussed her family’s personal debt to “advocacy journalism.” [Read more](. Project Syndicate publishes and provides, on a not-for-profit basis, original commentary by the world's leading thinkers to more than 500 media outlets in over 150 countries. This newsletter is a service of [Project Syndicate](. [Change your newsletter preferences](. Follow us on [Facebook]( [Twitter]( and [YouTube](. © Project Syndicate, all rights reserved. [Unsubscribe from all newsletters](.