The European Commission has announced a €545 million funding package to accelerate Africa‘s clean energy transition.
The package, which was announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during the Global Citizen Festival, part of the UN General Assembly, forms part of the Scaling Up Renewables in Africa campaign, co-hosted with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“The choices Africa builds today are shaping the future of the entire world,” von der Leyen commented. “A clean energy transition on the continent will create jobs, stability, growth and the delivery of our global climate goals. The European Union, with the Global Gateway investment plan, is fully committed to supporting Africa on its clean energy path.”
Huge potential
According to the Commission, Africa boasts ‘huge’ potential when it comes to renewable energy, however almost 600 million people across the continent still live without access to electricity.
Investment in solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energy is therefore ‘not just a moral and development imperative, it is also a strategic choice that strengthens supply chains’, it added, with the potential to create up to 38 million green jobs by 2030, as well as build energy systems more resilient.
Project funding
The largest share of the funding package will go to Côte d’Ivoire, where €359.4 million will be allocated to fund a high-voltage transmission line (Dorsale Est), intconcludeed to improve regional power distribution.
Some €59.1 million will go to Cameroon for electrification projects reaching more than 2.5 million people across 687 rural communities, while Madagascar will receive €33.2 million to expand electrification to rural areas.
Some €45.5 million will go to Somalia to increase access to affordable renewable energy, advance circular economy practices, and develop climate-resilient agri-food systems, while €25.9 million has been pledged to Lesotho, for its Renewable Lesotho wind and hydro project.
Other recipients include Republic of Congo (€ 3.5 million), Ghana (€2 million), Central Africa (€3.3 million), and Mozambique (€13 million).
The initiative forms part of broader commitments to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030 at a global level, which were agreed at COP28.
The Scaling Up Renewables in Africa campaign, which is undertaken alongside the international advocacy organisation Global Citizen, relies on policy support from the International Energy Agency. It also seeks to attract additional pledges of financing, expertise, and technical assistance from governments, financial institutions, private investors, and philanthropies. Read more here.
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