Energy-Related Climate Change Reportage in Africa: Has the Media Gotten It Right?

This chapter discusses the role of the African media in reporting on energy-related climate change issues on the continent. Energy is at the core of sustainable development. So is climate change. This is because climate change increases the cost of development by exacerbating the effects of poverty and population growth. This exposes millions of people, especially in developing countries, to food and water shortages and diseases, which can limit the opportunities for sustainable development if not addressed.123 Climate change can also affect the generation of energy and the development of energy infrastructure in many ways. For instance, the generation of electricity using coal is regarded by many industry experts as detrimental to the environment due to its associated emissions. Conversely, climate change issues have contributed to the aggressive pursuit of energy transition which has influenced the development of green technologies in energy generation. Relatedly, inputs or resources required for energy generation (such as fossil fuels, water, etc.) are impacted by climate change, in terms of their availability and adequacy. Extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves and droughts limit access and availability to existing energy generation sources.4 On the other hand, the output of energy generation also contributes immensely to climate change in the form of emissions, greenhouse gases, and other forms of waste (non-gaseous) emanating from extractive activities. These present a major threat to Africa, especially as the African Development Bank has declared Africa as the most vulnerable continent to climate change and its impacts.5 This is an indication that energy-related climate change issues require urgent attention in Africa. As climate change takes hold, Africans are increasingly demanding information about what is happening, and how its impact could be minimized or mitigated. This means that knowledge and access to information on energy-related climate change are essential for effective climate management and impact minimization. Availability and access to such information will also influence the African government's decision-making on the required investments to accelerate the energy transition. That is, decisions taken by nation states on green investments in the energy sector will rely heavily on the availability of energy-related climate change information. The African media, as a source of information can play a significant role in disseminating knowledge about energy-related climate change. Their role in this regard is indispensable because, in many instances, public sentiments are shaped by the media. Thus, the way the energy-related climate change is reported will have a profound effect on how people comprehend it, especially with respect to reports on the causes, sources, impact, recent dynamics in climate change, and how best its causal factors could be tamed. Additionally, the interest of Africa’s reading class may not necessarily be tilted towards scientific papers and reports on climate change to gain first-hand information on energy-related climate trends and related issues. Moreover, as the continent struggles with literacy levels, there are significant portions of the population whose understanding of climate-related information may be limited. For instance, the average national climate change literacy rate in Africa is 37%, which is far lower than that of Europe and North America, where rates are over 80%.6 Recent studies have posited that the problem of understanding climate change is one of the major challenges confronting Africa, its governments, and the African Union.7 Thus, most Africans would look up to the media to demystify, in a straightforward and simplified way, the facts and realities of climate change. The media therefore becomes an important player in climate change communication in this regard. Despite this significant role of the African media, the reportage of energy-related climate change information of the continent has mostly been narrated through the lens of the Western media, which may not necessarily reflect Africa’s realities on climate issues. Often, Western media coverage of climate change in Africa may lack in-depth reporting and be nuanced. This may partly be due to a need to project the agenda of the Western media and foreign policies, or due to limited exposure to the African “climate change experience”.8 Given that African media reportage tends to rely heavily on information available from secondary sources (Western media houses), some pertinent climate-related storytelling specifically tailored towards the African reality may be missing from the continent’s media coverage of climate change. This leads to a lack of local ownership and limited local context of energy-related climate change information on African countries.9 Such gaps in reporting mostly stem from the fact that the African media is not investing enough in energy and climate change research to create a credible first-hand body of evidence on the issues.10 Rather, it appears Africa keeps telling its story on climate change from the perspective of the West.