AFRICA – The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced US$136 million in additional investment for its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA).
The announcement was made during the COP26 conference featuring government ministers and a council of leaders in renewable energy.
SEFA, a multi-donor trust fund administered by the AfDB, has reaffirmed its support for institutional expansion for its African energy focussed development programs. SEFA’s founding member, Denmark, has disclosed US$14 million in new pledges.
Denmark’s Minister for Development and Nordic Cooperation, Fleming Moller Mortensen, deliberated that energy was a transformational mechanism for economic growth, job creation and strengthening climate resilience.
“The good news is that green energy – such as wind and solar – has become cheaper than fossil fuel. This opens a unique opportunity to close the energy gap for the almost 600 million people living in Africa without access to electricity today with renewable energy sources,” said Mortensen.
With 600 million people in Africa still lacking access to modern energy and a growing population, Africa will require strong commitments in investment activity to meet targets stipulated under The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
“The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa can speed up development and contribute to the energy transition in Africa while creating universal access to energy and decarbonizing economies. Therefore, Germany recently increased its contribution to SEFA by another €100 million (US$114.39m),” said Parliamentary State Secretary of Germany Dr Maria Flachsbarth.
With nearly 55% of the population still lacking access to modern energy, fast population growth and ongoing economic transformation, Africa will require a step-change in investment activity to meet targets under Sustainable Development Goal 7 and the Paris Agreement.
Traditional large-scale fossil-fuel baseload technologies are no longer cost-competitive nor climate-compatible.
Ensuring a rapid transition to renewable energy technologies, including distributed solutions, flexible generation and storage technologies, is critical for meeting global imperatives under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 7 and the Paris Agreement.
Mark Carrato, Power Africa coordinator, added that “the phenomenal growth of the SEFA Special Fund is not only a testament to the power of partnership and the viability of climate-smart investment but a measure of the confidence we all have in the African Development Bank and its mission.”
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