African Business meets Tanguy Gahouma-Bekale in Libreville only hours after he has finalised what he calls Africa’s most ambitious climate law yet – far-reaching legislation that helps Gabon on its mission to cut its carbon emissions by at least half by 2025.
“What we want is our economy not to be dependent on oil and instead, dependent on forests and agriculture. This is really a transition that we need, and this law will help with that,” says Gahouma-Bekale, permanent secretary of Gabon’s climate council and special adviser to President Ali Bongo.
The new legislation sends a clarion call to the private sector – imploring businesses to help Gabon commit to zero deforestation and no more fossil fuel activities, including gas flaring. Gahouma-Bekale says Gabon looks to achieve this goal by 2030. Under the new law, companies operating in Gabon will have to obtain a climate mitigation permit and respect its objectives, or face additional taxes.
Gabon is already one of the world’s few “carbon negative” countries, meaning it absorbs more carbon that it emits. This is due to its sprawling rainforest, which covers 88% of the country and makes up part of the Congo Basin.
Gahouma-Bekale hopes Gabon’s approach to the climate crisis can be used as an example for other nations to follow when he travels to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop26) in Glasgow not only as Gabon’s negotiator, but the main official tasked with defending Africa’s position as chair of the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change.
Africa’s vulnerability
He believes Africa is in a unique situation when it comes to the climate crisis, because “we are vulnerable, we have a lot of potential, and we are not responsible for the situation”.
“Africa is about 4% of the total greenhouse gas emissions,” he says. “Africa will have in maybe 10 years, half of the active…