In an interview with Sputnik Africa, AEC's executive chairman, NJ Ayuk, argued that the West is employing neocolonial strategies to dictate Africa's energy future, prioritizing their own energy security by financing natural gas projects in Europe while simultaneously attempting to stifle African nations' economic development.
"Natural gas is green in Europe, but it is not green in Africa," Ayuk asserted, highlighting the double standards. "They can finance natural gas in Europe, but they can't finance that as natural gas in Africa, double standard… That is not just morally wrong; it is legally wrong."
The AEC's legal action, set to begin in South Africa, promises to be a landmark case with far-reaching implications for the global financial system, according to the AEC chair.
The chamber is determined to challenge the West's "benevolent" approach to Africa, advocating for self-reliance and a recognition of Africa's right to utilize its resources for its own economic growth.
"This is finance apartheid. Because right now you have a small minority determining the future of a big... of a majority," Ayuk said. "Our natural resources should be part of that independence. We cannot have a climate policy, and a climate approach that is colonial in nature, dictated for us."
He added, "Most Western countries have been the cause of the climate crisis. They've polluted the world. … They need to decarbonize while we industrialize."