The United States Energy Secretary, Chris Wright has described as unfair the calls being made by Western countries asking Nigeria and other developing countries to abandon the use of coal and fossil fuel as a way to support the transition to cleaner energy.
Speaking in Washington DC, at the 10th edition of the annual “Powering Africa Summit,”, Wright told African leaders that the Trump administration will not dictate to Africa how it intends to put its abundant resources to use.
Nigeria’s energy transition is a complex but crucial process, requiring policy reforms, investment in infrastructure, and international collaboration.
While renewable energy sources like solar and wind hold immense potential, the transition needs to be carefully managed to ensure energy security, economic stability, and sustainable development.
Nigeria is banking on its over 37 billion barrels of oil reserves and 209 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas to boost its industrialisation drive.
Wright argued that the climate change conversation did not rank among the top 10 biggest problems in the world.
He said, “Our goal is that Africa needs massively more energy. Africans will do that. Africans will deliver that.
“The United States is thrilled to partner with you in that endeavour. At least this government has no desire to come and tell you what you should do with your energy system. (That) this is good and this is bad. That’s just so nonsensical.
“Let’s look at the United States for a second. We have the electricity grid; we have states where their biggest source of electricity is hydropower. We have states where their biggest source of electricity is oil. We have lots of states where their biggest source of electricity is coal.
“Most states, their biggest source of electricity is natural gas. But it’s different across all of our states. There are different resources there. There are different needs there. There are different degrees of an economy that’s decided by people in marketplaces.
“Africa has enormous natural resources and we’ve had years of Western countries, including my own, shamelessly saying, don’t develop coal. Don’t develop coal. Coal is bad. That’s just nonsense. Hundred per cent nonsense. “Coal has been the largest source of global electricity for a hundred years. Coal transformed our world and made it better, extended life expectancy and grew opportunities. And coal globally will be the largest source of electricity for decades to come. That’s not a policy. That’s not a desire. That’s just a reality.”
The US energy secretary added, “But if you look at the physical data of climate change and read the economics around climate change, it is impossible to come up with climate change in the top five of the world’s problems. If you’re really honest, you can’t put it in the top 10 of global problems.
“We should be aware of it. We should think about it. That technology evolution will ultimately drive down greenhouse gas emissions, but making it the source of policy or direction, this has not only been hamstringing for Africa, for finance or investment, telling what’s good and what’s bad, it’s been destructive in our own societies. “We’ve had major industrial economies that are de-industrialising. They’re not lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
“They’re just making their own energy more expensive and less reliable. And everyone that makes energy intensive stuff is just leaving those countries to another locale. That’s not reducing greenhouse gas emissions. That’s just moving emissions.”
