Rethinking coal extraction and use in the face of climate change – Stop new fossil fuel projects

Increased incidences of droughts, shifting seasons, floods, more hot days and heat waves have made the impacts of climate change and variability more evident. The impacts of climate change in Zimbabwe are likely to stall the country's development, pose a serious risk to food security and adaptive capacity. At international level, Zimbabwe has committed to negotiations on climate change having been among the first countries to sign and ratify the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992 and also acceded to the Kyoto Protocol in 2009. Through acceding to various instruments, Zimbabwe has also continued to support the United Nations efforts to curb the escalation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Taking heed of the glaring impacts of climate change, the government of Zimbabwe developed a National Climate Change Response Strategy(NCCSR) in 2014 to guide national response measures in addressing the impacts of climate change. However, translation of this response strategy into action remains a dream yet to be realised. Zimbabwe is famous for producing super blueprints but drastically fails implementation. One of the guiding principles of the NCCSR is “Mainstreaming climate change into policy and legal framework as well as development planning.”It has however been appalling to note that the policy directions assumed this far are in contradiction with this guiding principle. Zimbabwe has planned the building of 15 new coal plants (of which 6 are still in the pre-permit stage) while the country is already grappling with the effects of climate change on a society dominated by agriculture.