The aim of this discussion is to show how proper allocation and harnessing of Renewable Energy Resources (RES) can drastically reduce the hazards of global warming and ameliorate poverty by rising economic developmental challenges especially for developing and poor nations. Renewable energy is defined by the online dictionary Wikipedia as “energy collected from renewable sources which naturally replenish on the human time scale such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat. Renewable energy often provides energy for four important areas: electricity generation, air and water heating or cooling, transportation and rural (off grid) energy services.

Then what is global warming? According to Wikipedia ”global warming is a long term rise in the average temperature of the earth climate system, an aspect of climate change shown by temperature measurements and by multiple effects of the warming” the term commonly refers to the mainly human-caused observed warming since pre-industrial times, and its projected continuation, though there were also much earlier periods of global warming; more specifically global warming relates to worldwide surface temperature changes. It is necessary to understand the effects of climate change in order to marry it to best renewable energy and environmental practices and the attendant improvements that irrigation of global warming by renewable energy.

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INTRODUCTION

Scary global statistics on drought, floods, epidemics, extreme weather conditions, landslides,
mudslides, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis and several other catastrophic
natural disasters give us every reason to be concerned about the future of humans and their
landlord – the earth. Pilling human casualties from nature and human induced disasters, as well as the
unquantifiable economic and material losses that follow, all raise red flags on the urgent need
to save humanity from itself by paying closer attention to the wellbeing of the society,
economy and the physical environment.

SUSTAINABILITY, CSR AND THE SDGs

According to the now famous definition in the UN Brundtland Report: “Sustainable
development is development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This is indeed a classic definition that
says it all.

Bringing this further home, I would define Sustainability simply as the art and science of
securing and nurturing mankind’s continued existence on planet earth. Sustainability and its
phrasal version, Sustainable Development, is all about the past, the present and the future of
mankind and everything in-between, including the corporate world, the economy, the food we
eat, the air we breathe, our housing, jobs, clean water, human rights, justice system, public
policy, healthcare, society and households, and so on. If you go through the 17 Sustainable
Development Goals, the focus is the same – addressing your wellbeing, my wellbeing, the
wellbeing of our planet and future generations.

Essentially, Sustainability and Sustainable Development are very much about the future of the
world and the children that we love and cherish so much. INTRODUCTION
Scary global statistics on drought, floods, epidemics, extreme weather conditions, landslides,
mudslides, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis and several other catastrophic
natural disasters give us every reason to be concerned about the future of humans and their
landlord – the earth.

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PROTOCOL

1. I feel greatly honoured to have been invited as a keynote speaker on this occasion to
speak on the topic, “The Imperative of Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) for Economic
Growth in Africa”. In my opinion, this topic is vital to understanding how the financial system
can contribute to the sustainable economic growth and development of the African
continent.

BODY

2. A word we hear regularly in both business and government circles is Sustainability. It has
been defined by the United Nations as “the ability to meet the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. The
African continent suffers from serious environmental problems such as deforestation,
wetland degradation, soil erosion etc. along with social problems such as rapid increase
in population amidst tepid economic growth, and the low rate of participation of women
and youths in the political, economic and social spheres of various African countries. This
poses a significant challenge to the long-term economic growth and development of the
African continent and our future generations.

3. In response to these issues, the United Nations General Assembly set a collection of
seventeen (17) global goals and 164 targets to be achieved by 2030. These Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) cover poverty, hunger, health, education amongst others,
majority of which affect Africa. The financial system is a vital aspect of any economy and
thus integral to achieving the SDGs set by the UN. The Sustainable Stock Exchange initiative
was launched in 2009 by the former UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, with the mission
to build the capacity of stock exchanges and securities market regulators to enable them
promote responsible investment in sustainable development activities and advance
corporate performance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

4. As the intersection between companies and investors, stock exchanges are uniquely
positioned to contribute to the achievement of four respective SDG targets: Gender
Equality, Decent work and Economic Growth, Responsible Consumption and Production
and Climate Action.

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In the decades that preceded the turn of the new millennium, there were hopes and expectation that year 2000 would provide a magic wand that would provide solutions to many if not all of the intractable challenges facing humanity. It was a period where commonplace were slogans such as “health for all by the year 2000”, “education for all by the year 2000”, “food sufficiency for all by the year 2000”, “shelter for all by the year 2000”, “prosperity for all by the year 2000” and several other slogans. Poverty, hunger, starvation and diseases seemed to be the major challenges facing the developing nations while the developed economies seemed to be enjoying the benefits of development including human rights, democracy, and good governance.

The United Nations indeed felt concerned about the plight of common people especially in the global south. In order to address the problem of poverty and promote sustainable developments, the eight millennium goals were adopted in September 2000 at the largest gathering of 189 Heads of States committing both rich and poor countries to do all they could to eradicate poverty, promote human dignity and equality, and achieve peace, democracy and environmental stability. By this commitment the world had an unprecedented opportunity to improve the lives of billions of people by adopting practical approaches to meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

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