African states must push for a moratorium on the EU's impending carbon tax when they attend the UN Cop 29 climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, next month, said the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO).
APPO's secretary-general Omar Farouk Ibrahim made the call at Africa Oil Week currently underway in Cape Town, South AFrica.
"As we prepare to go to Baku for Cop 29, I invite those who represent the interests of our continent in the negotiations to sound the alarm on the implications for Africa of the planned implementation of the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism," Ibrahim said.
The mess called climate change was not created by Africans, APPO's secretary-general said. Today's industrialised countries are responsible for most of the greenhouse (GHG) emissions of the past 120 years, he said.
This is the time to sound the alarm and ask for a moratorium on CBAM so that Africa can benefit, he added.
"That is what an energy transition is in our opinion. If we don't, we're in for trouble [as] it will stifle our industrial and economic development," according to Ibrahim.
Africa deserves better — it cannot develop without fossil fuels, he concluded.
