๐ŸŒ The first Africa Climate Summit


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Todayโ€™s newsletter supported by:

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Hi there Intriguer.ย ErnieBot, Chinaโ€™s newly-launched response to ChatGPT, has already become the countryโ€™s most-downloaded free app, with over a million users on its first day. Intriguingly, the program asks users to โ€œtalk about something elseโ€ when uncomfortable topics arise.

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Todayโ€™s briefing is a 4 min read:

  • ๐ŸŒฑ The first-ever Africa Climate Summit is here.

  • ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ทย South Korea wants tourists to come back.

  • โž• Plus: Olafโ€™s new look, how the papers are covering the dismissal of Ukraineโ€™s defence minister, and why Malaysians are tweeting about their former deputy prime minister.

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โฑ๏ธ Around the world in sixty seconds

  1. ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฐย Pakistan: Protests against rising electricity costs have emerged across Pakistan. The countryโ€™s interim government says it must abide by the IMF bailout conditions agreed earlier this year, and warns itโ€™s not in a position to offer relief to its citizens.

  2. ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นย Italy: Saudi Arabia and Italy have signed several deals to boost investment, including in green hydrogen. Prime Minister Meloni has sought closer ties with the Gulf, lifting an embargo on arms sales to the UAE and Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

  3. ๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡บย Vanuatu: Parliament has elected former prime minister Sato Kilman to again serve as leader, after a court upheld the ousting of his predecessor in a no-confidence vote. Kilman says heโ€™ll โ€œrevisitโ€ his countryโ€™s new security pact with Australia.

  4. ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ทย Brazil: The economy grew by more than expected in the second quarter of this year, as domestic demand and industry activity surged. President Lula again criticised the central bankโ€™s high interest rates as a drag on growth after Fridayโ€™s GDP release.

  5. ๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆย South Africa: President Ramaphosa says an inquiry has found no evidence South Africa sold weapons to Russia, contrary to claims by the US ambassador in Pretoria. Instead, the president says the inquiry found the cargo ship in question was transporting Russian weapons to South Africa to fulfil an order from 2018.

๐ŸŒฑ Africa | Environment

Leaders are trying to fill an Africa-shaped hole in climate policy

Africaโ€™s first climate summit kicks off

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African leaders are in Nairobi this week to kick off the first-ever African Climate Summit, as the continent seeks to rally around a shared vision ahead of Novemberโ€™s COP28 climate summit in the UAE.

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Africaโ€™s interests in the topic are clear:

  • ๐ŸŒก๏ธ The continent is disproportionately impacted by rising temperatures despite emitting only 2-3% of global emissions

  • โ›๏ธ Many of the minerals needed for the energy transition (such as cobalt, lithium and copper) are found in Africa, and

  • ๐ŸŒ Africaโ€™s population is projected to nearly double to 2.5 billion people by 2050, with rising energy demand to match

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So what exactly are Africaโ€™s leaders discussing?

  • ๐Ÿ’ฐ Climate financing: Theyโ€™re calling on rich countries to uphold their 2009 $100B per year green financing pledge, while exploring additional options (like carbon credit markets) to raise funds

  • ๐ŸŒพย Sustainable food systems:ย The agricultural sector accounts for 35% of Africaโ€™s GDP, but itโ€™ll need to grow significantly and sustainably to serve the continentโ€™s growing population

  • ๐Ÿ’กย Electrification: Nearly 600 million folks on the continent lack access to electricity, limiting the impact of renewable energy

  • ๐ŸŒบย Biodiversity:ย Almost two thirds of Africaโ€™s rural residents depend directly on natural ecosystems for their basic needs

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Intrigue’s take: International summits serve all kinds of purposes: among the photo ops, pageantry, and stressed-out diplomats (including us in a former life), these events help world leaders send messages to each other, their own citizens, investors, and the world at large.

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And notwithstanding some of the challenges above, the core message from the summit co-host (Kenyaโ€™s president) seems to be this: Africa is a climate opportunity, not just a victim.

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Also worth noting:

  • In his opening address, Kenyan President William Ruto also said 92% of Kenyaโ€™s electricity comes from renewable sources.

  • On day one of the summit, UAE investors committed to buying $450M of carbon credits from the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative, which was launched at Egypt’s COP27 summit last year.

๐Ÿ“ฐ How newspapers coveredโ€ฆ

The replacement of Ukraineโ€™s defence minister

New Delhi, India

โ€œZelensky Replaces Ukraine’s Defence Minister, Calls For โ€˜New Approaches’โ€

Kyiv Ukraine

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โ€œUkraineโ€™s defense minister replaced amid wartime corruption crackdownโ€

Arlington, US

โ€œUkraine to replace defense minister amid counteroffensiveโ€

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Todayโ€™s newsletter is supported by: Neighbor

Earn money with your unused space.

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Neighbor is a peer-to-peer storage marketplace that connects people needing storage with unused space in their area.

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๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท South Korea | Geo-economics

South Korea wants tourists to come back

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South Korea announced Monday (4 September) itโ€™ll waive visa fees and move to add more direct flights from China to entice more Chinese tourists.

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Tourism from China is a major source of income for South Korea. But in 2017, China banned tour groups from visiting South Korea in response to Seoulโ€™s deployment of a US-made missile defence system.

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And the banโ€™s impact was real. Within a year:

  • ๐Ÿ‘ช The number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea halved from eight to four million, and

  • ๐Ÿ“‰ Seoulโ€™s total tourism earnings fell from $17.1B to $13.3B.

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But last month, China lifted the ban after six years. Now, South Korea is doing all it can to welcome those tourists back.

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Intrigueโ€™s take: South Korea was long spooked at the prospect of falling into the โ€˜middle income trapโ€™ (where growth stagnates at a certain level).

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It cruised into high-income status in 2017, but has remained focused on diversifying its economy to boost resilience. Tourism is a key part of that equation, but waiving visa fees might not be enough.

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Also worth noting:

  • Pre-COVID, Chinese tourists spent a combined $255B abroad each year, with group tours accounting for roughly 60% of that spend.

  • Beijing also lifted its ban on group travel to countries like the US, UK, Australia and Germany last month. China lifted the ban on Russia back in January. Canada remains banned.

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๐ŸŽง Today on Intrigue Outloud

Credits: Getty Images

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Why does Erdogan have Putinโ€™s ear?

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โž• Extra Intrigue

Hereโ€™s what folks were tweeting about yesterday, Monday September 4th.

  • ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฆ People in Morocco were using โ€œ#Murderโ€ after two French-Moroccan jetski tourists were killed by the Algerian Coastguard.

  • ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡พ Malaysians were tweeting about โ€œZahid,โ€ after former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid had dozens of graft charges against him dropped unexpectedly.

  • ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ด โ€œNATOโ€ was trending in Romania after Ukraine claimed a Russian drone attack hit NATO-member Romaniaโ€™s territory (a claim Bucharest has denied, while condemning the Russian attack).

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๐Ÿ—ณ๏ธ Poll time!

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Do you think carbon credits are a viable solution for Africa?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

๐Ÿฆ Tweet/X of the day

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz emerged with an eye patch yesterday (Monday) after falling during a weekend jog. He says heโ€™s โ€œlooking forward to the memes.โ€ We give him an A+ for good humour (and a pretty bad-ass new look).

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Yesterdayโ€™s poll: How are you liking our ‘Intrigue Top Picks’?

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