Nairobi, Nov. 26 -- Even as delegates from around the world were meeting in Egypt at the UN Conference of Parties (COP27) to deliberate on the current global climate crisis, 200 companies were at the same time exploring or developing new oil and gas projects across Africa, one of the regions experiencing the worst effects of climate change.

On the side-lines of the conference, 37 African climate-focused NGOs - including Urgewald, Stop EACOP, Oilwatch Africa and Africa Coal Network - released a report exposing the hypocrisy of the West in the climate change debate.

The report fingered Western companies and investors as the biggest financiers of new oil and gas projects on the continent.

Out of the 23 top investors in Africa's oil and ga...