Climate change is a profound challenge to the livelihoods of many people in African countries who have contributed so little to its cause. More frequent extreme weather events (floods, heatwaves and droughts) are making hunger, insecurity and displacement much worse. The continent holds an estimated 30% of the minerals that are essential for the future transition away from fossil fuels. However, Africa mostly exports these raw, leaving companies in other countries to reap the rewards of manufacturing low-carbon technologies and digital infrastructure. Sustainable development economists Michael Adetayo Olabisi and Howard Stein propose a new African “green bank” as a solution.
@SteveKLord the way I read it supports IMF / World Bank by embracing the language they use to talk about finances.
What's wrong with coop banks? Why does that state need to be involved (which would require IMF to be an intermediary)?
I didn't read it that way at all and don't have any issue with those things. It's just one possible proposition that the authors made and I shared to this forum. . Could you word your responsea a bit more constructively?
@SteveKLord yes, you're right, I'm just cranky. I work with a lot of African activists and I'm just really annoyed by another Western economic approach of What Should Africa Do To Help Itself.
I'd love to see more focus on existing structures such as cooperatives which are really HUGE in a lot of Subsaharan countries.
The language of western economy stops us from seeing a lot of what's there. What if the transport is not public or private, but communal, coop-owned instead?
@SteveKLord I don't have any good articles on that on hand, but I'll get back to you when I do.
In the meantime, you might be interested in https://magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/vol27-2-political-economy-of-science/rethinking-open-science/