Category: environmental crisis
Let’s face facts: Louisiana is sick and dying | Opinion
| September 10, 2017 | 8:44 pm | Economy, environmental crisis, Local/State | Comments closed

http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2017/09/lets_face_facts_louisiana_is_s.html#incart_most-readopinions

Let’s face facts: Louisiana is sick and dying | Opinion

Two questions have dogged me lately: If I could go back 18 years, would I raise my children in Louisiana? Would I still view this as a place that would nurture and educate them, offer opportunities for personal and financial growth and help my wife and me imbue in them the values important to us?

When my son and daughter were born, I believed the answer was yes. I had hope. Even three years ago, I still had faith in Louisiana, as I wrote in a column to young people who considered abandoning the state: “Stay here, find like-minded people, organize them, expand your influence, demand change, but don’t give up on this amazing, beautiful place. Its good people — flawed as we might be — are worth your efforts.”

When I wrote that, I believed Louisiana had brighter days. I hoped there was a small flame of desire to recreate something great here. I thought Louisiana’s people wanted to redeem their state.

I was wrong.

Today, I ask only, “Is this as good as it will ever be?” The answer, I believe, is yes. It’s not getting better and could get much worse.

For all its rich and diverse culture and abundant natural resources, Louisiana is the sick man of the United States. We’re an economic basket case and a toxic waste pit of environmental neglect and misconduct.

We are the state most adept at missing opportunities and abusing and wasting our abundant natural resources.

Louisiana is my home in every way and, at 59, I cannot imagine living anywhere else. And yet it’s time to admit this is a place with no visible promise and little hope. To pretend otherwise is to engage in delusional thinking. We must face facts.

I’m not saying everyone should give up and leave. I’m staying and fighting for our future. There is much work to do, and I believe I can make a difference. I suspect most of you feel the same. But if we’re staying, we must be honest about Louisiana’s deplorable condition and bleak future.

Blame our leaders, if you like. But the problem is us. On average, we aspire to mediocrity; we are happy with good enough. We live in a land of plenty but view the world from an attitude of scarcity.

We mask our state’s profound illness and disease with colorful festivals and spicy food.

We tolerate — sometimes celebrate — our corrupt politicians. (Witness the recent outpouring of affection for disgraced former Gov. Edwin Edwards on his 90th birthday.)

Speaking of celebrations, nothing makes us happier than college football, which is our true religion. In the fall, we worship on Saturday nights in Tiger Stadium, the state’s holy shrine. Meanwhile, what transpires across campus — in the classrooms and lecture halls — barely concerns us.

Our elected leaders sell their souls to big oil and the chemical industry. The first has spoiled our land, pillaged our resources and damaged our coast, while the other has poisoned our air and water.

We are 47th in environmental quality. Perhaps it’s no coincidence we have the nation’s highest cancer rate.

Almost a third of our children live in poverty, the third-highest rate in the nation. That’s not changed for decades.

We have the seventh-lowest median household income and the third-highest unemployment rate. After decades of so-called “reforms,” we still have the worst public schools in the country. We’ve cut higher education funding more than almost every other state.

I could go on. We are first in almost everything that’s bad and last (or near last) in almost everything that’s good. In most cases, even mediocrity seems beyond our reach.

The experience of the last four decades should settle any question about whether Louisiana and its people will soon awaken from their coma of complacency. We know well the diseases of ignorance, poverty and pollution that afflict us — and have accepted them as sad facts, not obscenities.

The question isn’t whether there is much hope or aspiration left in Louisiana’s people. There is not. The question, instead, is whether this is a place our promising young people should abandon as soon as possible.

So here’s what I’ll tell my children: If you want to stay, then regard Louisiana as a mission field. However, if you want a place that will enlarge your life, expand your horizons, offer new opportunities and challenge your thinking, you should look elsewhere.

Our insular, prehistoric ways will not soon spawn a dynamic, creative culture to revive our economy and attract bright young minds to study at our universities and, after graduation, remain here to build a vibrant state. Our people have said loud and clear over the decades that we do not desire such a state.

It’s time to admit that Louisiana is sick and dying.

Robert Mann, an author and former U.S. Senate and gubernatorial staffer, holds the Manship Chair in Journalism at the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University. Read more from him at his blog, Something Like the Truth. Follow him on Twitter @RTMannJr or email him at bob.mann@outlook.com.

Africa/Global: Scaling Up Solar
| March 21, 2017 | 8:12 pm | Africa, environmental crisis | Comments closed

Africa/Global: Scaling Up Solar

AfricaFocus Bulletin
March 21, 2017 (170321)
(Reposted from sources cited below)

Editor’s Note

Even in the United States, where action on climate change is under
aggressive assault by climate deniers in the Trump
administration and Congress, renewable energy is projected to
continue to advance rapidly, on the basis of its still rapidly
growing cost advantages over fossil fuels. According to a report
just released by GTM research, the US total solar market, already
supplying the largest share of new power production, is poised to
triple over the next five years. The prospect for renewable energy
to power increased access to electricity in Africa is also dramatic,
according to a new report from the Africa Progress Panel.

For a version of this Bulletin in html format, more suitable for
printing, go to http://www.africafocus.org/docs17/clim1703.php, and
click on “format for print or mobile.”

To share this on Facebook, click on
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.africafocus.org/docs17/clim1703.php

In both developed countries and in regions where hundreds of
millions lack any access at all to electricity, the technical
capacity for rapid massive expansion of renewable energy supplies
has already been demonstrated. Scaling up, however, requires
financial innovation as well, and that still depends in large part
on public policy as well as private sector financing. Fortunately,
in Africa as well as at the global level, recognition of the
potential benefits is growing almost as fast as technical
innovation.

This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains opening remarks by Kofi Annan on
the launch of a new report by the Africa Progress Panel: “Lights,
Power, Action: Electrifying Africa.” The full report stresses the
central role of off-grid and mini-grid systems in providing access
to electricity for the estimated 620 million Africans currently
without such access. The report, too long and complexly formatted to
be excerpted here, is available in pdf format (http://tinyurl.com/jr8g7q8).

While acknowledging the role of extending the grid and some
continued reliance on large-scale power-production projects, the
report’s emphasis is the demonstrable untapped potential for scaling
up both small-scale household systems and community-level mini-
grids, both of which have been demonstrated in practice as cost-
effective.

Also included is the executive summary of a World Resources
Institute study published in December 2016, focusing particularly on
the remarkable success and even-greater potential of “pay-as-you-go”
solar systems, using the case studies of Kenya and Tanzania. The
principal obstacle to scaling up, the study concludes, is not
technical but rather financial. New forms of financing and seed
funds have enormous potential for expansion.

For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on climate change and energy,
visit http://www.africafocus.org/intro-env.php

++++++++++++++++++++++end editor’s note+++++++++++++++++

Opening remarks by Kofi Annan, Chair of the Africa Progress Panel,
at the launch of “Lights, Power, Action: Electrifying Africa” in
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on 13 March 2017.

Africa Progress Panel

http://tinyurl.com/k7t9cdl

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to be with you in Abidjan this morning.

Achieving universal access to modern energy is critical to Africa’s
transformation.

The Africa Progress Panel, which I chair, welcomes the opportunity
to collaborate with the African Development Bank and other key
stakeholders in pushing for the changes we need to see.

It was in that spirit that I gladly accepted President Adesina’s
invitation last year to serve as a lead champion of the New Deal on
Energy in Africa. His leadership in positioning the AfDB at the
forefront of the New Deal process is precisely what is needed to
change the game for Africa.

The Africa Progress Panel first drew attention to the need for
bolder action to electrify Africa faster in our 2015 Report: “Power,
People, Planet: Seizing Africa’s Energy and Climate opportunities”.
Two years later, this need remains as urgent as ever.

Nearly two-thirds of Africans – 620 million people – still do not
have access to “affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern
electricity”, the energy goal that is central to Agenda 2030.

Africa’s energy deficit continues to stifle economic growth, job
creation, agricultural transformation, and improvements in health
and education. Meeting Sustainable Development Goal 7, the energy
goal, is a pre-condition for achieving many of the other goals.

The good news is that we are no longer in the dark, so to speak,
about how to tackle this challenge.

In several countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco and South
Africa, renewable energy makes up an increasingly important share of
national power generation.

There are also a number of promising initiatives aimed at providing
electricity across borders, mostly drawing on renewable resources
such as solar, wind and hydro power.

We now need to see more of them deployed at far greater scale to
bring power and light to Africans who still lack modern energy.

That is the core message of the APP’s new report, Lights, Power,
Action: Electrifying Africa, which is launched today.

Traditional approaches to extending the grid are no longer viable as
the main option for African countries. They take too long and do not
meet the needs of our growing economies and societies. Instead,
governments and their partners need to re-imagine their energy
future.

We are not saying countries should immediately stop using fossil
fuels and switch to renewable sources of energy. As our report
clearly states, the cost of transitioning to renewables may be
prohibitively high in the short term – especially for countries that
use their sizeable endowments of coal and other fossil fuels to
generate energy.

What we are advocating is that African governments harness every
available energy option, so that no one is left behind. Each country
needs to decide on the most cost-effective, technologically
efficient energy mix that works best for its own needs.

To meeting rapidly growing demand, that energy mix will gradually
progress towards greater use of off-grid household systems and mini-
grids. It should also lead to the emergence of more flexible, hybrid
national energy systems that link grids to off-grid generation.

Mobile phone technology has already helped Africa to leapfrog over
conventional technology and to improve financial and social
inclusion. In the same way, we foresee that innovation will bring
millions of Africans into the energy loop, leading to better health,
better education, better access to markets, and better jobs.

Off-grid electricity generation used to be regarded in Africa as a
stop-gap measure – a way to power a few lights during the long wait
for a grid connection. In recent years, the number of households
connected to off-grid power has soared, improving millions of lives
while relieving a chronic shortage of power.

Some of these home systems may in future connect to grids through
buy-back schemes, enabling households to earn extra cash from the
power they generate. Such arrangements are already working in
Australia, some parts of Europe and the United States. Overall,
however, policy and regulatory environments in Africa need to
improve considerably to make such linkages reality.

As we document in our new report, off-grid solar products can act as
rungs on an “energy ladder”, providing a range of energy services to
households and enterprises with different energy needs and incomes.

Mini-grids can also offer sustainable permanent alternatives to
connecting to the grid, especially as reliable and affordable
products come on-stream that are attractive to small and medium-
sized enterprises as well as communities operating far from the
national grid.

The agenda is clear and the challenges are well known.

As well as leading the way in promoting wider use of off-grid and
mini-grid technology, African governments must continue to work hard
to transform national energy grids that are often unreliable and
financially fragile.

Many energy utilities are mismanaged and inefficient. A lack of
accountability and transparency in their governance also nurtures
corruption.

Electricity theft at staggering scale is often the result of this
malpractice; rolling black-outs are the result of mismanagement. All
continue to feed a deep sense of frustration among citizens.

They also highlight why power provision has become a highly
political issue in several countries.

Poor energy governance reflects the wider governance deficit that
threatens to derail development efforts in a number of countries.

So what do African governments and their partners need to do to make
this vision of an empowered Africa a reality?

Africa’s leadership, in both public and private sectors, needs to
step up and champion the “energy for all” agenda.

Governments need to intensify their efforts to put in place
regulatory environments that give the energy sector incentives to
deliver on its transformative potential.

The private sector, African and non-African, should be encouraged to
enter energy generation, transmission and distribution markets,
deepen linkages throughout the value chain, and build the investment
partnerships that can drive growth and create jobs.

While the onus is on African leadership and ownership of this
agenda, Africa’s energy future is also an issue of global relevance.
Although Africa only accounts for a tiny fraction of global
emissions, it wholeheartedly embraced the Paris climate agreement’s
overarching ambition – limiting global warming through unshakeable
and progressive commitment to a low-carbon planet.

The Paris commitment has led the industrialized countries to pledge
billions of dollars to supporting the low carbon transition, in
Africa and elsewhere. However, and as we have repeatedly highlighted
in our reports and our public advocacy, very little of that money is
moving yet.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As our new report shows, where there is good leadership, there are
excellent prospects for energy transition, and leaders in a number
of countries are demonstrating the levels and intensity of political
will needed to address these serious and persistent problems.

We urge governments to put in place the integrated plans and
policies that can scale up Africa’s energy transition. The success
of countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Morocco, Rwanda and
South Africa shows what can be achieved.

Achievements at the national level are essential but only part of
the solution. To fully address the energy challenges, governments
must collaborate more closely on a continental scale. Improved
cross-border power trade is crucial to realising Africa’s energy
potential. Yet less than 8 per cent of power is currently traded
across borders in Sub-Saharan Africa.

There is a glaring need to adopt a more continental approach to
power infrastructure development and management in order to
accelerate regional power integration.

This must involve a greater pooling of electricity resources and
harmonisation of national grids. Massive increases in investment in
regional transmission infrastructure and the development of new
power trading arrangements are also essential.

The ultimate goal should be to interlink Africa’s numerous and
fragmented power initiatives to create a single pan-African power
grid.

We know what is needed to reduce and ultimately eliminate Africa’s
energy deficit. Now we must focus on implementation.

The time for excuses is over.

It’s time for action.

**********************************************************

Stimulating Pay-As-You-Go Energy Access in Kenya And Tanzania: The
Role of Development Finance

World Resources Institute

Issue Brief

December 2016

Sanjoy Sanyal, Jeffrey Prins, Feli Visco, and Ariel Pinchot

http://tinyurl.com/mhsps2l

Executive Summary

Nearly 620 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack electricity
access. Improving access to affordable and reliable energy is
critical to reducing poverty and improving quality of life (IEA
2011). To improve energy access, it is important to develop
financing and payment schemes that fit consumer energy budgets.
“Pay-as-you-go” (PAYG) business models harness technology to provide
a “one-stop-shop” solution for consumer finance and energy products.
The PAYG model originated in Kenya, and addresses the key challenges
of extending end-user finance and collecting payments from remote
customers who often have erratic and limited cash flow. PAYG
companies, at this point, typically provide basic lighting and
mobile phone charging services. The technology can play an important
role in expanding access to electricity services to remote and low-
income populations.

This issue brief draws on findings from desk research, workshops,
and inter views with PAYG companies, donors, and development finance
institutions (DFIs) active in energy access in East Africa to assess
how PAYG companies have stepped up to serve the approximately 35
million people in Kenya and 36 million people in Tanzania who lack
access to electricity, as well as additional millions who are
underserved. Our paper also draws on interviews with stakeholders
involved in Bangladesh’s IDCOL program to provide insight into how
DFIs and donors supported the Bangladesh program, in order to elicit
lessons relevant to the Kenyan and Tanzanian contexts. We chose
Bangladesh’s IDCOL program as a reference point for two reasons: the
energy enterprises in Bangladesh perform the same one-stop-shop role
as the PAYG companies, and IDCOL provides an example of where DFIs
have played a significant role in channeling finance (US$750
million) to achieve substantial energy access goals (three million
solar home systems).

Given the nascent stage of most energy access markets, much of the
existing PAYG literature focuses on analyzing the innovative
variations of business models as well as factors that could improve
the enabling environment. However, market players in both Kenya and
Tanzania have evolved beyond an early-stage pilot phase. These
pioneering companies have successfully raised grant, equity, and–
more recently– debt finance to pilot, develop, and scale their
businesses. According to our estimates, they have reached more than
half a million households through rapid sales growth. The market
overall is also evolving, as suggested by the participation of 52
international private sector investors–ranging from foundations  to
large companies–and five debt deals struck in 2015, the largest of
which was a US$45 million raise by one company. Market leaders such
as M-KOPA, Mobisol, and Off-Grid Electric have begun expanding into
regional markets.

While encouraging progress has been made, the addressable markets in
Kenya and Tanzania are much larger than those reached by existing
companies so far, and the products they offer need to be larger in
capacity if they are to provide more than basic lighting and mobile
charging. PAYG companies will require about one billion dollars
across these two countries to scale for broader impact. Therefore,
this issue brief focuses on how this broader impact can be created.
We look at how successful PAYG businesses operating in Kenya and
Tanzania have raised finance and the constraints faced by the
industry, and we propose recommendations for how donors and DFIs can
continue to support the development of these markets.

Currently, the various types of capital (debt, impact equity
capital, grant) that PAYG companies need are available almost
exclusively from international investors. Local financial
institutions in Kenya and Tanzania have been hesitant to provide
financing to PAYG customers: they perceive PAYG companies as early-
stage, risky businesses and are unfamiliar with the technology as
well as the creditworthiness of rural consumers. The absence of
local capital sources to some extent explains the fact that almost
all the successful PAYG companies are foreign owned and foreign
managed. Local companies often lack the initial resources, as well
as the networks and skills, to raise both early-stage capital and
develop complex financial structures to raise debt capital from
international markets. Local companies are also hesitant to take on
foreign currency risk.

Technological barriers to the PAYG business are falling, and the
sector is likely to see the entry of a larger number of companies.
This is not yet happening, because access to finance remains a key
entry barrier, particularly for locally owned and managed companies.
Finance is most critically needed to build out marketing, sales, and
service infrastructure and to provide customers with financing. The
relative lack of access to finance results in fewer companies and
less competition in the PAYG sector.

DFIs and donors have a role to play in supporting local financial
institutions to extend local currency debt. In Bangladesh,
international DFIs and donors channeled funds for energy access
through IDCOL, a government-owned financial intermediary. IDCOL also
played a strong role in market development. The market support roles
played by IDCOL can be adapted to the Kenyan and Tanzanian contexts.
The debt- financing role in Kenya and Tanzania can be played by
commercial banks from the very beginning. Involving commercial banks
would have the advantage of ensuring that funds are available to the
sector even after donors withdraw. …

Drawing on the success of the IDCOL program and the unique needs of
PAYG companies, we offer recommendations targeted primarily to DFIs
and donors regarding how they can support local financial
institutions in their efforts to expand energy access in Kenya and
Tanzania.

* International DFIs and donors can leverage their long relation-
ships with local financial institutions in Kenya and Tanzania to
stimulate local finance for the PAYG sector. DFIs and donors can
provide guarantee schemes and lines of credit to local banks. This
support would help banks develop a deeper understanding and
familiarity with PAYG business models, and make finance more
accessible to local companies. International DFIs and donors can
“crowd in” private sector investment in PAYG by channeling their
investments through fund of funds run by professional impact
investors and incentivize PAYG companies to invest in targeted
marketing and distribution infrastructure through results-based
financing. DFIs and donors can also provide technical assistance to
public organizations to support capacity building in monitoring and
verification.

* Local commercial banks can begin to explore the PAYG sec- tor, and
understand company cash flow patterns, through the provision of
short-term trade finance. They can also explore mechanisms such as a
debt ser vice coverage account to partially cover for default risks.

* National governments can provide support through a suite of policy
and regulatory measures to unlock domestic commercial financing for
distributed renewable energy including, for example, the development
of mechanisms to coordinate roles of institutions in this space and
encourage private sector activity by setting clear national
priorities and releasing grid extension plans to the public.

* Private sector investors can help companies to access different
types of capital and partnerships in response to evolving business
needs. This may include support for raising capital from local
commercial banks. Foundations and family offices can provide loss
guarantees to local banks.

* Private sector PAYG businesses can adopt standardized accounting
standards to assist in transactions with local banks.

The scope of this issue brief is confined to analysis of financing
in support of PAYG solar home system companies. While we recognize
that PAYG products providing lower-level energy services are not
comprehensive solutions to the energy access challenge, we believe
that our recommendations will also support the broader energy access
sector, including mini- and micro-grids.

Introduction

The Imperatives of the Electricity Access Challenge

Nearly 1.3 billion people, or 18 per cent of the world’s population,
still lack access to grid electricity (IEA 2014a). An additional one
billion are “under electrified,” a status charac terized by unstable
grid connection with regular power outages (A.T. Kearney and GOGLA
2014; IEA 2013). Sub-Saharan Africa bears a disproportionate share
of this burden. Over 620 million people, nearly two-thirds of the
region’s population, are without electricity access (IEA 2014b).
Increasing access to afford- able and reliable energy services is
fundamental to reducing poverty and improving other human
development indicators (IEA 2011).

Electricity access has long been measured by the physical connection
of a household to grid electricity or the presence of a nearby
electric pole. This binary definition of electricity access has
increasingly come into question in recent years, because it fails to
capture the quality of electricity services received by end users.
In response, the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance
Program (ESMAP) has developed a multi-tier framework for defining
and measuring levels of energy access. Under this approach, access
to electricity refers to the ability to obtain electricity that is
characterized by the following attributes: “adequate, available when
needed, reliable, of good quality, affordable, legal, convenient,
healthy and safe for all required applications across households,
productive enterprises and community institutions” (Angelou and
Bhatia 2015).

The framework measures electricity access across five tiers; each
tier reflects a specific level of performance of an electricity
supply system defined by the attributes. Tier 1 and Tier 2 are the
low-power capacity levels (minimum 3W and 50W, respectively). At
Tier 1 level, electricity access is defined as providing lighting
and mobile charging for a minimum of four hours per day. At Tier 2
level, access additionally includes the ability to power a fan
and/or television for four hours (see Annex II).

The PAYG businesses that we study in this issue brief provide
electricity access mainly at the Tier 1 and Tier 2 levels through
standalone solar home systems (SHSs). The standalone solar system
comes with a battery, a charge controller, a solar panel and LED
(light emitting diode) bulbs, and a mobile charger. Larger systems
(typically 50W and above) can potentially connect direct current
(DC) appliances such as a television. Even at lower tiers of
electricity access, there are numerous household-level benefits.
These benefits stem from the fact that the SHSs replace alternate
sources, which are often very expensive.

Previous WRI research conducted in collaboration with the
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis indicates that
household kerosene use is significantly lower for house- holds with
SHSs, even when compared with grid customers. While 80 percent of
households with access to grid electricity continue to use kerosene,
only about 25 percent of homes with SHSs use kerosene. The
reliability of SHS electricity supply may explain this finding (Rao,
Agarwal, and Wood 2016). Other research indicates benefits such as
prevention of GHG emissions (both carbon dioxide and black soot)
(Kaufman et al. 2000; Wang et al. 2011), increased household
disposable income because of reduced spending on kerosene and
candles (Mills 2005; Tracy and Jacobson 2012), health benefits such
as reduced accidents and indoor pollution (Mills 2014; Samad et al.
2013) and social benefits such as increased evening study hours for
children (A.T. Kearney and GOGLA 2014; Khan and Azad 2014; Samad et
al. 2013).

The Importance of “Pay-as- You-Go” (PAYG)

Previous WRI research has underscored the importance of designing
financing and payment schemes that fit consumer energy budgets. The
research notes that energy enterprises have to design innovative
financing and payment schemes to encourage consumers to purchase
their products, because customers are accustomed to buying energy in
small increments (Ballesteros et al. 2013). …

PAYG is a technology-driven method that allows consumers to pay the
lease amount for a given energy system or pay a fee for the service
of using the system. It uses information technology to enable remote
activation with payment receipt (Alstone et al. 2015). PAYG includes
a range of business models, which differ as to how payments are
accepted and to whom the ownership of the system ultimately
devolves. From the consumer’s point of view, the PAYG model offers a
one-stop shop, where the product and the financing are available
from the same source. The willingness of companies to finance
products gives customers confidence in the new technology. Indeed,
energy companies have tried to partner with microfinance
institutions (MFIs) but often with limited success. The energy
service companies have typically been smaller than their counterpart
MFIs, and partnerships have been hard to manage given the differing
expectations of the two parties. In Kenya, for example, consumers
could not access technical maintenance services from the energy
companies, which were limited in their geographic outreach. The poor
after-sales service left many customers dissatisfied with their
products, which in turn led to a refusal to repay loans (Rolffs,
Byrne, and Ockwell 2014).

The benefits of the PAYG model in providing a one-stop-shop solution
to customers are several. As we have already noted, the offer of
finance by the energy company instills trust in consumers regarding
the quality of the product. Operational efficiency is improved
because there is no need for coordination between finance providers
and technology providers. With PAYG, the companies are able to
provide longer-term loans than those usually offered by MFIs. PAYG
models also allow the provision of relatively large credit amounts
(to cover the cost of the renewable energy system) to consumers
whose credit worthiness may be unknown. The credit risk is partially
mitigated by the incentive system that links payments to service
provision. PAYG approaches, which use mobile communication
technologies, also reduce the costs associated with collecting
repayments (Rolffs, Byrne, and Ockwell 2014). Finally, PAYG enables
significant data collection. This gives enterprises the advantage of
understanding product performance and consumer behavior (Alstone et
al. 2015).

*****************************************************

AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a
particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.

AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin,
or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about
reposted material, please contact directly the original source
mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see
http://www.africafocus.org

Africa/Global: Climate Threat, Action Tracks
| November 11, 2016 | 6:06 pm | Africa, Climate Change, Donald Trump, environmental crisis, Latin America, political struggle | Comments closed

AfricaFocus Bulletin
November 10, 2016 (161110)
(Reposted from sources cited below)

Editor’s Note

“Africa is already burning. The election of Trump is a disaster for
our continent. The United States, if it follows through on its new
President’s rash words about withdrawing from the international
climate regime, will become a pariah state in global efforts for
climate action. This is a moment where the rest of the world must
not waver and must redouble commitments to tackle dangerous climate
change,”  Geoffrey Kamese, Friends of the Earth Africa.

For a version of this Bulletin in html format, more suitable for
printing, go to http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php, and
click on “format for print or mobile.”

To share this on Facebook, click on
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php

[This version of this AfricaFocus Bulletin sent out by email contains
only brief excerpts from each article. For more extensive excerpts,
read on-line at http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php; for
full articles go to the link cited in each case.]

There is no doubt that the election of Donald Trump poses an extreme
threat to action on climate change, as on a host of other
interconnected issues. But, in this case, as in many others, it is
important to remember that a U.S. president, no matter how powerful,
is only one of the forces affecting the outcomes.

Yes, this is a major setback, but the threat did not begin with
Trump and the struggles to combat it must and will continue – on
multiple fronts. While no one organization or movement can fight on
all fronts, those forces fighting for justice and for a future for
our planet must have a vision of a wider background than one U.S.
presidential election.

The context is not only the United States, but the world. And the
arenas are not only political (at multiple levels of government, and
even within the executive branch of the federal government itself),
but also technical, economic, and activist (from divestment to
protest sites such as the Dakota Pipeline). No one organization or
even movement can be on all fronts at once, but together we must
find ways to strategies embedded in a wider vision rather than
engage in fruitless debates about which action track is the “most
important.”

This AfricaFocus Bulletin consists of excerpts from a selection of
statements and articles illustrating the multiple tracks on which
action to combat the threat of global warming can and must take
place, globally, in Africa, and in the United States.

* The first two statements are reactions from climate activists to
the additional threat posed by the election of Donald Trump.

* The third highlights the continuing technical and economic success
of cheap off-grid and mini-grid solar in Africa, which is now
estimated to be reaching 10% of the 600,000 Africans living off
national  electricity grids.

* The next provides a summary of both the necessity and the economic
and technical viability of a comprehensive transition away from
fossil fuels, from Oil Change International and a coalition of
related organizations.

* The fifth is an open letter from climate activist groups to the
Equator Principles Association of banks committed to social
responsibility principles, calling for withdrawal of support for the
Dakota Access Pipeline.

* The sixth is an update from the International Energy Agency,
revising upwards its projections for growth of renewable energy
worldwide.

* And the last is a report from South Africa’s Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) noting that “new power
from solar PV and wind today is at least 40% cheaper than that from
new baseload coal today.”

For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on the environment and climate
issues, visit http://www.africafocus.org/intro-env.php

Other background articles worth noting:

“There’s no way around it: Donald Trump is going to be a disaster
for the planet,” Vox, Nov 9, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/oturdlb

“10 Ways You Can Help the Standing Rock Sioux Fight the Dakota
Access Pipeline”

25 Snapshots from the Stillwater Pow Wow

++++++++++++++++++++++end editor’s note+++++++++++++++++

“Deep breaths. Now let’s plan the fight ahead,” 350.org, Nov 9, 2016

[Excerpts: full text at
https://350.org/deep-breaths-now-lets-plan-the-fight-ahead/]

Here’s what I’m keeping in mind right now:

* This is a global movement. It’s more important than ever to
remember our connection with people in literally every country who
are fighting the fossil fuel industry right now — many in the
toughest conditions imaginable. I believe in our collective power
like nothing else.

* The fossil fuel industry is in a fight for its life. When we
expose their lies, stop their pipelines, divest from their stocks
and take away their social license — they fight back. Their
investment in this election was no secret, and they’re going to
double-down in its aftermath.

* Local fossil fuel resistance is taking root everywhere. Not only
has the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline spread like
wildfire, but other campaigns against fracking, pipelines, and coal
are too many to name. None of us are giving up or going home today.

********************************************************

Global Community Must Unite Against Trump to Avoid Climate
Catastrophe

Friends of the Earth International

Joint Press release

9 November 2016

http://tinyurl.com/pe4u693

As news of Donald Trump’s victory in the US Presidential Election
reached Marrakech, climate justice groups gathered at the COP22
United Nations annual climate change talks reacted:

“Whilst the election of a climate denier into the White House sends
the wrong signal globally. The grassroots movements for climate
justice – Native American communities, people of color, working
people – those that are at this moment defending water rights in
Dakota, ending fossil fuel pollution, divesting from the fossil fuel
industry, standing with communities who are losing their homes and
livelihoods from extreme weather devastation to creating a renewable
energy transformation – are the real beating heart of the movement
for change. We will redouble our efforts, grow stronger and remain
committed to stand with those on the frontline of climate injustice
at home and abroad.. In the absence of leadership from our
government, the international community must come together redouble
their effort to prevent climate disaster,” said Jesse Bragg, from
Boston-based Corporate Accountability International.

“For communities in the global south, the U.S. citizens’ choice to
elect Donald Trump seems like a death sentence. Already we are
suffering the effects of climate change after years of inaction by
rich countries like the U.S., and with an unhinged climate change
denier now in the White House, the relatively small progress made is
under threat. The international community must not allow itself to
be dragged into a race to the bottom. Other developed countries like
Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan must increase their pledges for
pollution cuts and increase their financial support for our
communities,” said Wilfred D’Costa from the Asian Peoples’ Movement
on Debt and Development.

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

***************************************************************

As prices plunge, Africa surges into clean, cheap solar energy

Maina Waruru

Mail and Guardian, 12 Oct 2016

http://tinyurl.com/nu7f9v8

Solar systems in Africa can now provide electricity for many
households for as little as $56 a year.

Last August Kenya won $36 million in support from France to put in
place 23 mini-grid systems in northern Kenya that will use solar
panels, wind or a combination of the two. (Bloomberg) Last August
Kenya won $36 million in support from France to put in place 23
mini-grid systems in northern Kenya that will use solar panels, wind
or a combination of the two. (Bloomberg) Until almost two years ago,
James Mbugua, a farmer living in Karai, a village on the outskirts
of Kenya’s capital, relied on kerosene to light his house, and a car
battery to power his television so he wouldn’t miss the news.

Part of the reason he couldn’t plug into the power grid, despite
being so close to Nairobi and in an area where electricity is
readily available, is that he lives on government land as a
squatter, with no papers to show he owns the 70-foot by 80-foot
parcel where he has put up a makeshift house.

Now, however, he has found an alternative: An affordable solar
system to power his home.

“I could not go on like that and had to seek an alternative way of
lighting my house and I discovered that with only $150 I could use
solar to light my house and power the television plus radio,” he
told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The money for the purchase, he said, came from a loan from his
community savings group, which asks members to contribute $5 a month
and then offers loans from that pot of cash.

The father of five grown children is one of the millions of people
across Africa who are taking advantage of falling prices of home
solar panel systems to get cheaper, cleaner and more reliable
energy.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), home
solar systems in Africa can now provide electricity for many
households for as little as $56 a year – a cost lower than getting
energy from diesel or paraffin.

Of the estimated 600 million people living off-grid in Africa, about
10 percent of them are now using off-grid clean energy to light
their homes, according to IRENA statistics.

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

******************************************************

The Sky’s Limit: Why the Paris Climate Goals Require a Managed
Decline of Fossil Fuel Production

Greg Muttitt, September 22, 2016

Oil Change International, in collaboration with 350.org, Amazon
Watch, APMDD, AYCC, Bold Alliance, Christian Aid, Earthworks,
Équiterre, Global Catholic Climate Movement, HOMEF, Indigenous
Environmental Network, IndyAct, Rainforest Action Network, and
Stand.earth

http://priceofoil.org/2016/09/22/the-skys-limit-report/

September 2016

Press Release

A new study released by Oil Change International, in partnership
with 14 organizations from around the world, scientifically grounds
the growing movement to keep carbon in the ground by revealing the
need to stop all new fossil fuel infrastructure and industry
expansion. It focuses on the potential carbon emissions from
developed reserves – where the wells are already drilled, the pits
dug, and the pipelines, processing facilities, railways, and export
terminals constructed.

Key Findings:

The potential carbon emissions from the oil, gas, and coal in the
world’s currently operating fields and mines would take us beyond
2deg C of warming.

The reserves in currently operating oil and gas fields alone, even
with no coal, would take the world beyond 1.5°C.

With the necessary decline in production over the coming decades to
meet climate goals, clean energy can be scaled up at a corresponding
pace, expanding the total number of energy jobs.

Key Recommendations:

No new fossil fuel extraction or transportation infrastructure
should be built, and governments should grant no new permits for
them.

Some fields and mines – primarily in rich countries – should be
closed before fully exploiting their resources, and financial
support should be provided for non-carbon development in poorer
countries.

This does not mean stopping using all fossil fuels overnight.
Governments and companies should conduct a managed decline of the
fossil fuel industry and ensure a just transition for the workers
and communities that depend on it.

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

***************************************************************

An open letter to the Equator Principles Association

Civil society groups call for stronger climate commitments in EPs
and a halt to financing the Dakota Access Pipeline

By: BankTrack,Friends of the Earth US,others & RAN

For full version, including signatories and references, visit
http://www.banktrack.org/ – Direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/p4pwhpr

Nov 7 2016

[For contact on this letter: johan@banktrack.org)]   To:  Mr. Nigel
Beck, Standard Bank, Chair of the Equator Principles Association,
All Equator Principles Financial institutions (EPFIs)

Concerning:  Equator Principles climate commitments, and EPFI
financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, for discussion at your
Annual Meeting and Workshop in London

Dear Mr. Beck,

The undersigned organizations are writing to you, as Chair of the
Equator Principles Association, to urge the Association at its
upcoming Annual Meeting in London to address two distinct and
important issues:

* Equator Principles Financial Institutions (EPFIs) must take long
overdue, concrete steps to strengthen their climate commitments.

* Our deep concern about the involvement of a substantial number of
EPFIs in the financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

************************************************************

IEA raises its five-year renewable growth forecast as 2015 marks
record year (Paris)

International Energy Agency 25 October 2016

https://www.iea.org – Direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/h6x3qrc

The International Energy Agency said today that it was significantly
increasing its five-year growth forecast for renewables thanks to
strong policy support in key countries and sharp cost reductions.
Renewables have surpassed coal last year to become the largest
source of installed power capacity in the world.

The latest edition of the IEA’s Medium-Term Renewable Market Report
now sees renewables growing 13% more between 2015 and 2021 than it
did in last year’s forecast, due mostly to stronger policy backing
in the United States, China, India and Mexico. Over the forecast
period, costs are expected to drop by a quarter in solar PV and 15
percent for onshore wind.

Last year marked a turning point for renewables. Led by wind and
solar, renewables represented more than half the new power capacity
around the world, reaching a record 153 Gigawatt (GW), 15% more than
the previous year. Most of these gains were driven by record-level
wind additions of 66 GW and solar PV additions of 49 GW.

About half a million solar panels were installed every day around
the world last year. In China, which accounted for about half the
wind additions and 40% of all renewable capacity increases, two wind
turbines were installed every hour in 2015.

“We are witnessing a transformation of global power markets led by
renewables and, as is the case with other fields, the center of
gravity for renewable growth is moving to emerging markets,” said Dr
Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director.

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

*****************************************************

Comparative Analysis: The cost of new power generation in South
Africa

Chris Yelland

Daily Maverick, 9 November 2016

http://tinyurl.com/nbdwh3o

In a presentation dated October 14, 2016, the head of CSIR’s Energy
Centre, Dr Tobias Bischof-Niemz, and Ruan Fourie, energy economist
at CSIR’s Energy Centre, provide a comparative analysis for new
power in South Africa based on recent coal IPP bid price
announcements by Minister of Energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson on
October 10, 2016, and other data.

This study is seen as important for any review of the draft update
to the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity (Draft IRP)
currently in progress by the Department of Energy (DoE).

The Draft IRP was to have been presented to the Cabinet last week,
and thereafter made available to the public for comment, but this
has since been delayed, with no further dates being given.

Since the previous due date of end March 2016, the request for
proposals (RFP) for the proposed 9.6 GW new nuclear build in South
Africa has also been further delayed from the revised issue date of
end September 2016.

However, it is known that in the meantime various stakeholder
structures reporting to the Minister of Energy are currently
reviewing the Draft IRP and its proposals for new renewable,
baseload coal and nuclear power, and making further input and
recommendations.

The CSIR study shows the significant reduction in the cost of energy
from wind and solar PV generation technologies in South Africa since
submission of bids for Window 1 of the renewable energy IPP
programme (REIPPP) on November 4, 2011, to those of the expedited
round of Window 4 on November 4, 2015.

The result of this reduction is that new power from solar PV and
wind today is at least 40% cheaper than that from new baseload coal
today.

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

*******************************************************

AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a
particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.

AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin,
or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about
reposted material, please contact directly the original source
mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see
http://www.africafocus.org

La Riva: Solidarity with Standing Rock!

http://icp.sol.org.tr/americana/la-riva-solidarity-standing-rock

NODAPL_16301715940389.jpg

The Gloria La Riva for President Campaign stands in solidarity with the water protectors at Standing Rock and calls for an end to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. La Riva calls for freedom for all those who have been arrested at Standing Rock including the 141 people arrested on Oct. 27; all charges should be dropped. Millions of people witnessed the arrests over social media; the police have exposed themselves as protectors of private property and the oil companies, and as agents of ongoing colonialism.

October 27 started out normally in the camps surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline and Standing Rock Sioux tribal lands. People had begun morning prayers and activities but police began to converge on an area outside of the main camp known as Treaty Camp or bridge 1806.

By 11 am the police were reinforced with light armored vehicles and riot police. As resistance increased, the police attacked the people with concussion grenades, bean bag rounds, rubber bullets, and other weaponry. .

Police actions included attacking people in a sweat lodge at gunpoint and shooting at horseback riders via ATV. This resulted in a horse being so severely injured it had to be put down.

As protectors continue to stand up for clean water and energy, the voices of Native people have been heard across the world. The UN has called for the United States to end the Dakota Access Pipeline and people in many major cities are gathering in support of the NO DAPL stance of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. We can’t drink oil, keep it in the soil!

La Riva in solidarity with Standing Rock

http://icp.sol.org.tr/americana/la-riva-solidarity-standing-rock

Within the context of Vote Socialist in 2016 campaign, Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) issued a statement in soldarity with the water protectors at Standing Rock.

ICP, 2 November 2016

The Gloria La Riva for President Campaign of the Party for Socialism and Liberation issued a statement in solidarity with the water protectors at Standing Rock, demanding an end to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The campaign also demanded the release of all those who have been arrested at Standing Rock and that all charges be dropped.

As protectors continue to stand up for clean water and energy, the voices of Native people have been heard across the world. The UN has called for the United States to end the Dakota Access Pipeline and people in many major cities are gathering in support of the NO DAPL stance of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. We can’t drink oil, keep it in the soil!” says the statement.

For the full statement see the link.

Africa/Global: “Stop the Bleeding” Updates
| June 22, 2016 | 6:00 pm | Africa, Analysis, Climate Change, Economy, environmental crisis, political struggle | Comments closed

AfricaFocus Bulletin
June 22, 2016 (160622 )
(Reposted from sources cited below)

Editor’s Note

“A new report by Tax Justice Network-Africa and ActionAid says that
East African countries (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda) are
losing approximately $2 billion a year of revenue each year by
granting tax incentives to multinational companies. … According to
Yaekob Metena, ActionAid Tanzania’s country director, ‘Though there
have been improvements in recent years in addressing the issue,
governments in East Africa continue to give away domestic resources
in tax incentives, funds that could pay for the regions’ education
and health needs and meeting the development objectives.'”

For a version of this Bulletin in html format, more suitable for
printing, go to http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/stb1606.php, and
click on “format for print or mobile.”

To share this on Facebook, click on
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=
http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/stb1606.php

This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a press release on this new
report from two of the organizations actively involved in the
Panafrican civil society campaign to stop illicit financial flow
from the African continent, which has been endorsed by the African
Union and is gaining worldwide momentum from a series of reports
from the Panama Papers and other investigative journalism.

The first report, on tax incentives, concentrates on the legal but
illicit policies that enable bleeding of resources from Africa to
multinational corporations through tax breaks. The second, from the
UN Environment Programme and Interpol, highlights the rapid increase
is losses due to black-market environmental crimes such as ivory
smuggling, illegal logging, and toxic waste disposal. Such crimes
are now the 4th largest illicit enterprise sector worldwide,
following drug smuggling, counterfeiting, and human trafficking,

For brief talking points and previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on
illicit financial flows and the Stop the Bleeding Africa campaign,
visit http://www.africafocus.org/intro-iff.php

For a database of articles and reports on illicit financial flows,
provided by the Stop the Bleeding Campaign but including data from
many sources, visit http://iffoadatabase.trustafrica.org/

For another hard-to-excerpt but revealing expose released today, see
Finance Uncovered’s investigative report on the shady financial
dealings holding up the renovation of the Rift Valley Railway (RVR).
The report is entitled “Trouble on the Lunatic Express,” and results
from a collaborative investigation by Kenyan, Belgian, and British
journalists. See http://www.financeuncovered.org/ – direct URL:
http://tinyurl.com/zz5v77d

“We have discovered that the fabled RVR modernisation programme has
not resulted in the purchase of new trains as claimed by the owners
of the railway, Qalaa Holdings.

We have trawled accounts which show that Qalaa has created an
offshore structure of shell companies which has extracted millions
in advisory fees from RVR, despite the railway suffering losses in
recent years.”

++++++++++++++++++++++end editor’s note+++++++++++++++++

East Africa losing up to 2 billion dollars to unproductive tax
incentives

Governments have taken few positive steps to curb loss of revenue

http://www.taxjusticeafrica.net / direct URL:
http://tinyurl.com/gmrmhde

http://www.actionaid.org / direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/hthr9dj

Dodoma, 18 June 2016 – A new report by Tax Justice Network-Africa
and ActionAid says that East African countries (Tanzania, Kenya,
Uganda and Rwanda) are losing approximately $2 billion a year of
revenue each year by granting tax incentives to multinational
companies. The report follows the EAC report series produced by the
two organizations in April 2012, examining the impact of tax
incentives on the region and giving recommendations to the EAC on
how to end a race to the bottom. This follow up report assesses what
has changed since 2012.

The report, entitled ‘Still Racing towards the Bottom? Corporate tax
incentives in East Africa’, states that while statements indicating
commitments to revise tax incentive policies have been made by
policymakers of the region, many questions abound on how eliminating
tax incentives will be realized. It is unclear how these tax
incentives will be revised, costed and phased out in practice and
what resources and expertise are at the disposal of the governments
to carry out this work.

According to Yaekob Metena, ActionAid Tanzania’s country director,
“Though there have been improvements in recent years in addressing
the issue, governments in East Africa continue to give away domestic
resources in tax incentives, funds that could pay for the regions’
education and health needs and meeting the development objectives.”

East African governments have taken some positive steps to reduce
tax incentives, especially those related to VAT, which are
increasing tax collection and providing vital extra revenue that
could be spent on providing critical services. However, they are
still failing to eliminate all unnecessary tax incentives. Countries
are still providing generous tax breaks in the form of tax holidays,
capital-gains tax allowances and royalty exemptions and these East
African countries continue to lose colossal amounts of revenue
through unnecessary tax exemptions and incentives given to
corporations.

“There is need to shift the policy environment in the region on the
issue of incentives as; political and financial national and
institutional authorities have admitted that tax incentives are in
fact harmful to domestic revenue mobilization and need to be
revised, costed and in most cases eliminated. In fact, as our report
shows that giving tax incentives is still fueling competition at
1the EAC level, and derailing any meaningful progress towards
regional harmonization of tax policies. Regional competition for
investors through providing tax incentives is still alive and is
undermining integration,” said Metena.

The report follows the EAC report series produced by the two
organizations in April 2012, examining the impact of tax incentives
on the region and giving recommendations to the EAC on how to end a
race to the bottom. This follow up report assesses what has changed
since 2012. “Many leaders are promising to take greater measures
towards progress on this in the region but there is a need for
tangible actions to be taken towards that end,” said Tax Justice
Network-Africa’s Deputy Executive Director, Jason Braganza.

Evidence gathered suggests that collectively, the four East African
countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda) could still be losing
around $1.5 billion and possibly up to $2 billion a year. The report
calls for East African governments to review the tax incentives they
are granting with a view to abolishing all unproductive incentives.
Any incentives that are determined to be effective should be
targeted at achieving specific social and economic objectives that
benefit East African citizens.

“The East Africa Community (EAC) must accelerate the harmonization
of its tax legislation with the EAC Agenda by ratifying the East
African Code of Conduct on Harmful Tax Competition and implementing
at national levels, the recommendations of the African Union High
Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows that was adopted at the AU
Summit in January 2015,” added Braganza.

ENDS

Paulina Teveli
Communications Coordinator – ActionAid Tanzania
Tel: +255 (0) 22 2700596 | Mob: +255 755 706322
Email: Paulina.Teveli@actionaid.org.

Michelle Mbuthia
Assistant Communications Officer – Tax Justice Network-Africa
Tel: +254 724 994796
Email: mmbuthia@taxjusticeafrica.net

Editors’ Notes:

Four countries alone – Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda – could
still be losing around $1.5 billion and possibly up to $2 billion a
year through the granting of corporate tax incentives to foreign
companies. Uganda loses around US$370 million, Kenya around US$1.1
billion, and Rwanda up to US$176 million. This amounts to, total
revenue losses that would amount to up to $2 billion a year.

The 2 billion a year figure (less than the 2.8 billion a year figure
from our 2012 report) reflects a welcomed commitment by the EAC
government’s. Governments have taken some positive steps to reduce
tax incentives, especially those related to VAT, which are
increasing tax collections and providing vital extra revenues that
could be spent on providing critical services. However, the figure
is exceedingly estimated and may well be short of reality as
accurate reliable data in most cases does not exist for all
incentives given to foreign firms.

While welcome statements indicating commitments to revise tax
incentives have been uttered by politicians of the region, many
questions arise how eliminating tax incentives will be realised. It
is unclear how these tax incentives will be revised, costed and
phased out in practice and what resources and expertise are at the
disposal of governments to carry out this work.

For Burundi, determining the revenue losses due to tax incentives
was particularly challenging in this case owing to an almost
complete lack of data. However, Burundi’s President Pierre
Nkurunziza, recently indicated that at least 81 billion Burundian
Francs ($52 million) has been lost to companies or officials who
have been given tax exemptions to import goods to build
infrastructure and instead sold on the materials.

In Tanzania, revenue losses from tax incentives given in 2014/15
were likely to be around US$790 million; although this figure
predates the new VAT law which is claimed will result in extra
revenues of US$500 million.

Kenya, the amount of revenue lost through tax incentives is likely
to be near the KShs100 billion (US$1.1 billion) a year level.

In Uganda, it remains unclear how much Uganda is losing to tax
incentives since government figures do not appear to provide full
figures, but the amount is likely be around US$370 million.

In Rwanda, estimates suggest that Rwanda is losing between Rwf 87
billion (US$115 million) and Rwf123 billion (US$176 million) a year.

ActionAid is a global movement of people working together to achieve
greater human rights for all and defeat poverty. We believe people
in poverty have the power within them to create change for
themselves, their families and communities. ActionAid is a catalyst
for that change.

Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A) is a Pan-African initiative
established in 2007 and a member of the Global Alliance for Tax
Justice. It is a network of 29 members in 16 African countries.
Through its Nairobi Secretariat, TJN-A collaborates closely with
these member organisations in tax justice activities at the
national, regional and global level. TJN-A seeks to promote socially
just and progressive taxation systems in Africa, advocating for pro-
poor tax policies and the strengthening of tax systems to promote
domestic resource mobilisation. TJN-A aims to challenge harmful tax
policies and practices that favour the wealthy and aggravate and
perpetuate inequality.

*******************************************************

Environmental crime now the world’s fourth largest illicit
enterprise, says new report

June 13, 2016

http://www.africaeconews.co.ke/ – Direct URL –
http://tinyurl.com/jnjo59x

Environmental crime is now the world’s fourth largest illicit
enterprise after drug smuggling, counterfeiting and human
trafficking.

According to a joint report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
and Interpol (see full report at
http://unep.org/documents/itw/environmental_crimes.pdf), it is
estimated that the value of the black market industry behind crimes
such as ivory smuggling, illegal logging and toxic waste dumping has
jumped by 26 per cent from 2014 to between US$91 billion and US$258
billion annually depriving countries of future revenues and
development opportunities.

“Environmental crime has impacts beyond those posed by regular
criminality. It increases the fragility of an already brittle
planet,” observed Mr Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and
Unep Executive Director.

Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock says an enhanced law
enforcement can help address this worrying trend.

“There are significant examples worldwide of cross-sectoral efforts
working to crack down on environmental crime and successfully
restore wildlife, forests and ecosystems. Such collaboration,
sharing and joining of efforts within and across borders, whether
formal or informal, is our strongest weapon in fighting
environmental crime,” says Mr Stock.

Environmental crimes cover not only the illegal trade in wildlife,
but also forestry and fishery crimes. It includes illegal dumping of
waste including chemicals and use of ozone-depleting substances.

Destruction of natural flora and fauna, pollution, landscape
degradation and radiation hazards, with negative impacts on arable
land, crops and trees adds to the list.

The debate on environmental crimes also includes exploitation of
natural resources such as minerals, oil, timber and marine
resources.

In recent years, the joint report says, the debate has reached the
global stage due to its serious and deleterious impact on the
environment and ecosystems, as well as on peace, security and
development.

Environmental Crimes makes simpler for Illicit Financial Outflows

Illegal exploitation of natural resources, including ITW, has
negative consequence on potential revenues from tourism, timber,
mining, gold, diamonds, fisheries and even oil and charcoal.

These natural resources could have produced revenue for development
needs in health care, infrastructure, schools and sustainable
business development.

Indeed, the illegal trade especially in natural resources like fish,
timber and minerals undermine legal and sustainable businesses
through unfair competition and non-payment of legitimate taxes for
social benefits.

Currently, the scale of different forms of environmental crime is
likely in the range of USD 91–259 billion or twice the size of
global official development assistance (ODA).

This total amount of USD 91–259 billion is a loss to society because
the commercial activity takes place as an illegitimate enterprise.
It undermines governance, legal tax-influenced price levels, and
particularly legitimate business. An unknown proportion will
nonetheless be re-introduced into the legitimate economy through
money laundering.

A research by Development Initiatives (DI) on foreign aid and
stimulating domestic revenue mobilisation in Kenya and Uganda
revealed that tax revenue makes up the largest proportion of total
revenue, which is over 85 per cent for Kenya in the last three years
(and over 80 per cent in Uganda). It also found that ODA to domestic
revenue mobilisation in Kenya and Uganda amounted to close to US$
21.5 million in 2014 (with more funding to Uganda than Kenya).

DI suggests in order for the country’s efforts to mobilise domestic
revenue to bear more fruit, there is need to develop approaches that
increase tax revenue without necessarily increasing the tax burden.
However, broadening the tax base to mobilise more domestic revenue
might be undermined if attention is not given to leakages including
illicit financial flows.

Meanwhile, the Panama Papers showed that illicit financial flows are
not only an Africa problem, and that there is a need for global
collaboration to track them.

“Countries such as Kenya and Uganda should target job-creating
economic growth, and shift away from growth based solely on
extractive industries – oil and gas – and services that require the
employment of fewer people,” says the joint report. About 10 per
cent of the total amount is estimated loss of revenue to
governments. The number is based on two assumptions: That the
criminal activity generates an average profit of 30 per cent, and
that government tax revenues could be 30 per cent of the profits, if
the environmental crime activities had been legal and legitimate.

For an approximate comparison the average world total tax rate
percentage of commercial profits was 40.8 in 2015 according to the
World Bank. For the USD 91–259 billion range, with a profit of USD
27–78 billion, the tax income, which is loss for government revenue,
would be 8–23 billion, or 8.8 per cent of the total amount, giving
an average loss of government revenue of USD 9–26 billion.

The report points out an escalating species extinction due to wanton
wildlife poaching and trafficking. Illegal logging and trade results
in climate change emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation.

The reports adds that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
has resulted into fish stocks depletion, loss of revenues for local
fishmongers and states. Most targeted fish species are Tuna,
Toothfish and Sharks.

Criminals exploit the lack of international consensus and the
divergence of approaches taken by countries. What may constitute a
crime in one country, is not in another. This effectively enables
criminals to go “forum shopping” and use one country to conduct
poaching, and another to prepare merchandise, and export via a third
transit country.

According to UNODC, corruption is the most important enabling factor
behind illegal wildlife and timber trade. Identifying the optimal
legal framework for preventing, combating and prosecuting
environmental crimes requires careful consideration.

There are proposals, according to the UN report on environmental
crime; firstly, designating any violation of wildlife or
environmental laws and regulations to be designated as “serious
crimes”. Another proposal is to designate illicit trafficking in
protected species of wild fauna and flora involving organised
criminal groups” as serious crimes.

In as much as the UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime
(UNTOC) defines organised criminal groups, the new report recommends
a broader applicability of the convention on new and emerging forms
of crime.

In 2014, the Interpol General Assembly passed a Resolution on
Interpol’s response to emerging threats in Environmental Security
(Resolution AG-2014-RES-03). In that resolution, instead of defining
environmental crime, Interpol instead focused on “environmental
security” by recognising the impact that environmental crime and
violations can have on a nation’s political stability, environmental
quality, its natural resources, biodiversity, economy and human
life.

Interpol also recognises that criminal networks engaged in financial
crime, fraud, corruption, illicit trade and human trafficking are
also engaged in or facilitating environmental crime.

Experts say the approach by both Interpol and the Commission on
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) in regarding
environmental crimes more as a collective term, makes the
criminalities fall under already established laws on serious crimes,
including, but not limited to, serious financial and corporate
crimes, forgery, fraud including tax fraud, terrorist finance. Such
an approach provides prosecutors with far more powerful tools for
prosecution and prevention and importantly – proportionality between
offense, intent and punishment.

UN Security Council Resolution S/RES/2195 (2014), recognised that;
natural resources are increasingly driving conflicts.

Three conventions control the international trade and movement of
hazardous waste and dangerous chemical substances by setting
procedures and standards for import and export. Both the environment
and human health are exposed to hazardous waste and chemicals
through the cycle these products go through from production,
transport, use to disposal.

There are three interlinked conventions: the Basel Convention on the
Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their
Disposal, which primarily covers wastes trade; the Rotterdam
Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain
Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and The
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants which
primarily covers chemicals, including restrictions on production.

The consensus based on Montreal Protocol of 1987, which controls
ozone depleting gasses (ODS), has been ratified by 197 parties,
making it universal. Projects worth USD 3.2 billion have been
approved by its executive committee to phase out over 450,000 tonnes
of substances with ozone depletion potential including the
implementation of Project Sky Hole Patching by the Regional
Intelligence Liaison Office of the World Customs Organisation in the
2000s. Unep, Unido, UNDP and the World Bank are the implementing
agencies of the protocol.

Unep Governing Council’s Decision 27/9 is the first internationally-
negotiated document to establish the term “environmental rule of
law”.

The decision emphasised the role of organised criminal groups in
trafficking hazardous waste, wildlife and illegal timber. The
Council recognised that environmental crime undermines sustainable
development, the successful implementation of environmental goals
and objectives, the rule of law, and effective governance.

The council also noted that these issues have been recognised in UN
General Assembly resolution A/RES/67/1 (2012) and A/RES/67/97 (2013)
which urged member states to address transnational organised crime’s
impact on the environment.

United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) reaffirms the need to
making illicit trafficking in protected species and forest products
into a serious crime as defined by UNTOC.

World Environmental Law Congress in Rio in April 2016, where the
Chief Justices, Heads of Jurisdictions, Attorneys Generals, Auditors
General, Chief Prosecutors and other high-ranking representatives
were gathered, agreed on a list of seven core principles to
strengthen the environmental rule of law.

The congress passed recommendations not limited to linking
environmental crimes to other crimes such as money laundering, and
strengthening courts’ capacity as guarantors of the environmental
rule of law.

*****************************************************

AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a
particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.

AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin,
or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about
reposted material, please contact directly the original source
mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see
http://www.africafocus.org

Massive fire breaks out at ExxonMobil refinery in Texas, air quality being monitored
| April 7, 2016 | 8:20 pm | environmental crisis, Local/State | Comments closed

https://www.rt.com/usa/338851-fire-exxonmobil-baytown-texas/

The cause of the fire remains unknown, but ExxonMobil did confirm to KTRK that there were no injuries, adding that they were observing the air quality for any hazards to public health.

The black smoke billowed high enough to be seen miles away, near Houston.

The first reports of smoke at the facility came from the US Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Service and other local eyewitnesses, KFGO reported.

The ExxonMobil refinery in Baytown is the second-largest of its kind in the US and includes a chemical plant.