Luanda - Angola is committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a further 14 percent by 2025, using renewable energy sources, the head of the National Group for Regional Parliamentary Organizations Follow up, Pedro Sebastião said Thursday.
Sebastião made the statement at the 14th ordinary session of the Plenary Assembly of the Parliamentary Forum of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (FP-CIRGL), while addressing on "The role of parliament in adapting to climate change in the Great Lakes region," taking place since Wednesday in Livingstone, Zambia.
Speaking on behalf of the Speaker of the Angolan parliament, Carolina Cerqueira, Pedro Sebastião said Angola contributes 0.21 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, even though this is considered a low level, the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is committed to reduce emissions.
He also emphasized that Angola's biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions currently come from the oil and gas sector (mainly fugitive methane emissions and gas flaring), followed by emissions from agriculture, forestry and other land uses (AFOLU).
As a measure to solve this global problem, the MP said that the state has included policies for the greater expansion of renewable energies, the removal of fuel subsidies to promote a more rational use of fuels and efficiency in transport.
Angola has adopted measures to reduce emissions from agriculture, reversing land degradation and deforestation.
Pedro Sebastião said the government has invested in renewable energies, such as solar, wind and especially hydroelectric power, given that Angola has a large power generation capacity.
MP Pedro Sebastião detailed that the country's hydroelectric capacity has quadrupled in just a decade, and in 2020, the total domestic energy production in Angola was 13,991 GWh, 88.5 percent from hydroelectric power, in addition to Angola's solar and wind potential also being very strong.
The MP said that the country has established partnership with international companies to develop seven grid-connected solar photovoltaic plants that will add a total installed capacity of 370 MW.
In the international context, he continued, Angola has signed the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention to Combat Desertification and ratified the Paris Agreement, which aims to strengthen the global response to the threats posed by climate change.
The Angolan government, the MP said, has been committed to fundamental and cross-cutting reforms of policies and institutions, and has placed the issue of climate change as a cross-cutting concern in its Long-Term Strategic Development Plan for 2025.
Pedro Sebastião also informed African parliamentarians that, in order to improve communication mechanisms on national records and accounting of greenhouse gas emissions, the National Climate Policy Monitoring, Reporting and Verification System was institutionalized in January 2022.
At parliamentary level, he stressed that the Angolan parliament has been looking at climate change, recognizing the climate emergency, ecological balance and combating climate change by approving mechanisms on policies and actions to adapt to the harmful effects of climate change.
The 14th Ordinary Session of the FP-CIRGL is analyzing the political, security and humanitarian situation in the region, with a focus on the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan. ART/DAN/AMP
