In economic theory, the Growth Imperative refers to the necessity of growth for economic and social stability. Convinced of this notion, politicians and corporate leaders proclaim their social and economic success arising from the increased gross domestic product, even when such growth consumes our world’s resources. 

Last week, COP28 president Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber refuted the need to phase out fossil fuels to restrict global heating to 1.5°C, which should have been no surprise, considering he is also head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. 

Nevertheless, his narrative flies in the face of science, and his closing statement that phasing out fossil fuels would “take the world back into caves” sounds like something that might resonate with Flat Earthers. 

To put things in perspective, global carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels are around 10 billion tonnes per year, and if we continue emitting at this rate, total fossil fuel emissions from now to 2050 will be about 280 billion. 

COP28, which has closed by again kicking hard decisions into touch, brought together a cohort of delusionists and illusionists like bees around a pot of honey: 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists (more than all the delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations), 29 representatives from CropLife (the pesticide producers trade association that has consistently pushed back against any attempt to enact new climate measures) and triple the number of last year’s representation from the meat and dairy industries. 

Appetite for wealth

But if you’re wondering how the architects of this future Armageddon are managing to sleep at night, it is with full stomachs. No matter where you look, whether it be to the cash stashed in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s sofa or Sim Tshabalala’s whopping R176-million annual salary as CEO of Standard Bank, the motivation of our leaders in business and politics invariably seems the same: an unsavoury appetite for wealth.

Ramaphosa inadvertently raised many questions about his wealth when he said, “If we are to put a stop to corruption and State Capture, those responsible must be brought to book”. 

With a net worth of over R6.4-billion (minus $580,000 since the Phala Phala sofa robbery), and as one of the early significant BEE business beneficiaries in our post-apartheid state, he has accumulated astonishing wealth. 

It is reasonable to wonder how he survives economically and politically without losing his moral compass.

Regrettably, this self-professed environmentalist has significant investments in McDonald’s and Coca-Cola and coal, and while his address at the G77 + China Summit during COP28 appeared to tick the right boxes, it would be worthwhile considering how much his corporate and political loyalties influence his actions: 

“Every region and country represented in this group is already experiencing the impact of climate change and its associated loss and damage… we need to stand together in solidarity, to support each other and to speak with one voice.”

One voice? Whose voice? Saudi Arabia’s voice that controls one-third of Opec’s total oil reserves? Or Russia’s, in the guise of Gazprombank – currently under US sanctions but endorsed by South Africa’s government to refurbish the gas-to-liquids refinery in Mossel Bay. 

At the August 2023 BRICS summit in South Africa, Sim Tshabalala championed the notion that African countries should not be forced by rich nations to abandon fossil fuels while they adapt to the effects of climate change. 

His current headline investment project is the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop), a 1,443km crude oil transport from the oil fields of western Uganda to the port of Tanga in Tanzania for onward selling to Europe. 

A small percentage of Tshabalala’s salary could have compensated the members of the displaced and disrupted communities impacted by Eacop, or reimbursed Standard Bank’s shareholders for his investment in a project that five banks and more than 22 insurance companies refuse to finance.

Of course, Ramaphosa and Tshabalala are not alone in their quest for wealth, and their millions seem insignificant compared to the 81 billionaires with as much wealth as the poorest 4.5 billion people on the planet. 

How ordinary people collude

Still, it is worth considering that the well-heeled haven’t filled their bank accounts all by themselves. Just as liars need believers and politicians need voters, corporate giants need ordinary people to play their part in the transaction. 

We may criticise Jeff Bezos for his lack of social conscience, but we need to ask who gave him the power to exploit his employees, avoid tax obligations, destroy small businesses, disregard the environmental impact of his global distribution business and remain one of the smallest philanthropic contributors. We did.

Insatiable, impatient consumers desperate for goods to be delivered to our doorsteps and always greedy for more, while also aspiring to be as successful as Bezos through whatever means. 

How, when business-as-usual is already pushing our planet to the point of no return, can South Africa’s Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa announce, with impunity, the life extension of Eskom’s coal-fired power plants? 

He can do that because we collude in the government’s position that South Africa’s status as the continent’s largest carbon emitter is a lower priority than the electricity outages the ANC’s voters complain about. 

In May 2021, the International Energy Agency concluded that no new coal mines or oil and gas fields should be developed if the world is to hold global warming to 1.5°C. 

In October 2023, South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy approved CGG Services’ seismic testing schedule for January 2024 from Plettenberg Bay to Port Elizabeth/Gqeberha. 

In addition to the carbon output of oil extraction and its subsequent utilisation, there have been worrying research findings that intense sound signals can mask communications, causing whales to sing more loudly or stop singing altogether, which affects social structure and interaction. 

One moment’s thought about how appalled we are by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the horror of what is unfolding at present in the conflict in Gaza should make us see how we are inflicting the same torture on those with even less agency, and without whom our world and all its systems will be entirely altered. 

Amid the climate crisis, 96% of the 700 upstream companies on the Global Oil & Gas Exit List are still exploring or developing new oil and gas fields. 

On the last day of COP28, as delegates battled to reach agreement on a final position statement, Haitham Al Gais, Opec’s secretary-general, had already sent out a letter urging all Opec and Non-Opec delegations to the CoC and COP28 negotiations to “proactively reject any text or formula that targets energy, i.e. fossil fuels, rather than emissions”.

Against this backdrop, the COP28 draft agreement is little more than a list of empty platitudes; its focus on carbon sequestration, planting trees and measuring our carbon footprints providing a set of constructs that enable fossil companies to continue with business as usual. 

Behind the façade of calling on nations to transition away from fossil fuels, it eschews any explicit commitment to phase them out or at least down. 

Instead, it asks countries to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems “in a just, orderly and equitable manner”. This is when our world is already consumed by conflicts driven by the battle for resources. 

We are all part of a self-perpetuating cycle of consumption and profit driven by those with wealth and unquestioningly endorsed by people who have not considered their role in shaping the calamity facing our planet. 

Rational minds know what is happening and where it will lead, though too many of us are short-term thinkers; our only goal is to see out our own lifetimes in whatever consumption modes we choose, without thinking of the next generation. 

Growth and expansion of GDP must be understood for the false idols they are, and we, the co-players in shaping the future of our world, must reconfigure our expectations of how we live and what we consume. DM