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☆ Uncover: The Kenya skincare brand targeting African skin
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Nell Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Uncover – a startup founded by three women in Kenya in 2020 – wants this to change. It has developed a range of cosmetics that serve the needs of African women, says Sneha Mehta, the company’s CEO and co-founder. Jade Oyateru, the startup’s COO and co-founder, explains that while demand for sunscreen is growing among African women, they often complain that it leaves a ghostly white layer on their skin. The African identity carries through to the product’s ingredients, with each one containing a plant grown on the continent. Pan-African skincareUrbanization and a young population are some of main drivers behind the booming African beauty market, but there is still a big gap in knowledge, says Uncover’s Oyateru.

Persons: –, Sneha Mehta, Jade Oyateru, Mehta, Edwin Maina, Technavio, Rubab, Uncover’s Oyateru, ”, we’ve, “, it’s, hyperpigmentation – Organizations: CNN, Euromonitor Locations: Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, South Korea, South Africa, Ghana

☆ Leaders gather in Nairobi for the African Climate Summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailLeaders gather in Nairobi for the African Climate SummitLeaders pledge hundreds of millions of dollars in carbon credits at the Africa Climate Summit. CNBC Africa's Teryanne Chebet and Dan Murphy for more.

Persons: Chebet, Dan Murphy Organizations: African Climate, Africa Climate Summit, CNBC Locations: Nairobi, Africa

Renewable energy is more reliable but its promise for the region still remains largely unmet. Most households have depended on gasoline generators for power, but recently the government removed a gasoline subsidy, prompting increased interest in solar power, according to dealers. The Nigerian government has not announced incentives to promote solar energy, such as reducing import taxes on solar equipment as demanded by dealers. “The problem was affordability, but now customers can pay installments over a period of 18 months,” said Tunde Oladipupo, an agent for Sun King, a solar power company. Another example of this shift is the Ford vehicle assembly plant in Silverton, Pretoria, which currently sources over 35% of its electricity from solar power.

Persons: Rashmi Shah, ”, William Ruto, Tunde Oladipupo, Sun King, Monsurat Qadri, ” Qadri, ” Mohammed Ettu, Shah, ” Shah, ___ Adebayo, Magome Organizations: Climate Summit, World Bank, CP Solar’s, Associated Press, Kenyan, Solutions, Ford, South, CP, Kenya Power, Lighting Company, Supersport, AP Locations: NAIROBI, Mombasa, Nairobi, Kisii County, Kenya, Africa, Nigeria, Oyo, Lagos, Saharan Africa, South Africa, Stillwater, American, Silverton , Pretoria, Mpumalanga, Kenya —, Abuja, Johannesburg

☆ African climate summit seeks to shift focus to finance from floods, famine
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Duncan Miriri | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

A report last year by the non-profit Climate Policy Initiative found Africa has received only 12% of the finance it needs to cope with climate impacts. The thousands of delegates are expected to debate solutions ahead of a U.N. climate summit next month in New York in September and the COP28 U.N. summit in the United Arab Emirates from the end of November. The summit's organisers also say they expect deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars to be concluded in Nairobi. In June, it hosted an auction where companies from Saudi Arabia bought more than 2.2 million tonnes of carbon credits. One project generating carbon credits in Kenya is BURN Manufacturing's production of clean cooking stoves to replace heavily polluting wood and charcoal-based fires.

Persons: Finbarr O'Reilly, Soipan Tuya, Amos Wemanya, Chris McKinney, Joseph Ng'ang'a, Duncan Miriri, Christophe Van Der, Aaron Ross, Barbara Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Initiative, Kenyan Environment, United, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Africa Carbon Markets, Thomson Locations: Haute Uele, Congo, Rights NAIROBI, Africa, Nairobi, New York, United Arab, Gabon, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Egypt

☆ Opinion | My Continent Is Not Your Giant Climate Laboratory
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Chukwumerije Okereke | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Several environmentalists last year presented Africa’s leading climate negotiators with a bold idea: A technology called solar geoengineering could protect their countries from the worst effects of climate change, they said. It wasn’t the first time Westerners have tried to persuade Africans that solar engineering projects may be in our best interest. As a climate expert, I consider these environmental manipulation techniques extremely risky. And as an African climate expert, I strongly object to the idea that Africa should be turned into a testing ground for their use. Even if solar geoengineering can help deflect heat and improve weather conditions on the ground — a prospect that is unproven on any relevant scale — it’s not a long-term solution to climate change.

☆ EU agrees to the world’s largest carbon border tax
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —European Union governments have reached a deal on the world’s first major carbon border tax, as part of an overhaul of the bloc’s flagship carbon market that aims to make its economy carbon-neutral by 2050. EU ministers finalized details of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism early Sunday after reaching a provisional agreement earlier on in the week. The landmark measure adds a pollution price on certain imports to the European Union. She added that certifying carbon emissions in producing countries remains a “challenge.”Climate policy overhaulThe carbon border tax is part of a wider deal agreed to Sunday that reforms the EU carbon market to cut its emissions 62% by 2030, compared to 2005. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will be phased in at the same time, in that way protecting domestic firms from being undercut by foreign competitors.

☆ Fossil-fuel companies have more people at the UN's climate summit than the 10 countries most affected by climate change do combined
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Fossil-fuel interests are fighting for natural gas at the United Nations' COP27 climate summit. But natural gas is mostly methane — a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide — and it leaks. One-third of the fossil fuel lobbyists Global Witness identified are registered as part of national delegations, according to Dominic Kavakeb, a spokesperson for Global Witness. Fossil fuel influence threatens to undermine progress on one of the most powerful, immediate climate solutions: ending human methane emissions. While methane's consequences are severe, the good news is that countries and industries can quickly slow climate change by cutting methane emissions.

☆ COP27: Activists hoped Egypt would bring a focus on Africa. They were disappointed
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt CNN —The crowd was loving what Bhekumuzi Bhebhe had to say, cheering loudly as he yelled “don’t gas Africa!” into the megaphone. Bhekumuzi Bhebhe speaks at a protest against the development of new fossil fuel projects in Africa. Experts and activists are stressing that many African countries are getting locked in fossil fuel investments that are polluting and will likely prove uneconomical in a few years. “Africa has contributed very little to the climate problem, but the fossil fuel companies are using that to their advantage. What Elmaawi, Adow and other activists want is for the COP27 conference to help African countries foster more investment into renewable energy.

Summary 85 insurers make pledge to extend climate coverComes as COP27 talks focus on issue of loss & damageAfrican Climate Risk Facility to cover 1.4 bln peopleSHARM EL-SHEIKH, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A group of over 85 African insurers has pledged to provide $14 billion of cover to help the continent's most vulnerable communities deal with climate disaster risks such as floods and droughts. Demand for compensation for the so-called 'loss and damage' caused by global warming has long been rejected by wealthy countries, wary of accepting liability for the emissions driving climate change. Against that backdrop, the African insurance plan is based around creating a scaleable, local market-based funding tool for resilience, the group said. "This is the African insurance industry saying let's come together and try and solve this ourselves," said Kelvin Massingham, director risk and resilience at FSD Africa, one of the partners behind the launch. The African Climate Risk Facility (ACRF) will provide protection for 1.4 billion people against floods, droughts and tropical cyclones by providing $14 billion of climate risk insurance by 2030 to African sovereigns, cities, humanitarian organisations and NGOs, the insurers said in a statement.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 9, (Reuters) - Civil society groups and youth activists at the U.N. COP27 summit held small pop-up rallies Wednesday at designated areas in this Red Sea resort town. At yet another small gathering, about 20 protesters demanded an end to fossil fuel use, chanting: "What do we want? Climate justice ... when do we want it? Youth activist Lucky Abeng of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance said the group wanted world leaders to take the financing agenda seriously. "Adaptation financing and also climate financing for Africa, it’s nonnegotiable," he said.

View of a COP27 sign on the road leading to the conference area in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh town as the city prepares to host the COP27 summit next month, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt October 20, 2022. The Nov. 6-18 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh is the first annual U.N. climate conference to be held after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. CONCRETE BARRIERAnother concern among activists is the difficulty ordinary citizens may face accessing Sharm el-Sheikh. A petition led by 12 Egypt-focussed rights groups has called on Egypt to address restrictions on civil society, saying "effective climate action is not possible without open civic space". "Certainly we're very alive to the fact that Sharm el-Sheikh is an enclosed space, very controlled, very curated," she said.

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