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The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) agreed to jointly support investment in low-carbon energy projects, a move that is expected to advance Africa’s energy transition.
The two entities signed a Declaration of Intent to coordinate a number of activities, including co-organizing renewable energy investment forums as part of IRENA’s contribution to the Climate investment platformand collaboration in the Bank’s annual flagship Africa Investment Forum event.
The partnership will also focus on enhancing the role of renewable energy in the nationally determined contributions of African countries under the Paris Agreement and other sustainable development goals.
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Climate finance
Energy transition
“Driven by the aspiration to harness Africa’s huge renewable energy potential, the African Development Bank is today at the forefront of renewable energy investment in Africa,” said Kevin Kanina Kariuki, Power Bank Vice President, Energy, climate and green growth. which he signed on behalf of the Bank.
“The Bank’s partnership with IRENA will advance this aspiration and support Africa’s energy transition and our goal of achieving universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy in Africa by 2030,” added Kariuki.
Francesco La Camera, Director General of IRENA said: “This agreement represents the kind of coordinated international cooperation that is the cornerstone of realizing sustainable development in Africa and achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. We will follow an action-oriented agenda that puts African countries on the path to realizing their full renewable energy potential. “
In early 2020, IRENA launched its Global perspective of renewable energies report, which revealed that sub-Saharan Africa could generate up to 67% of its energy from indigenous and clean renewable energy sources by 2030. Such an energy transition, the analysis suggests, would boost GDP, improve well-being and stimulate the creation of up to 2 million additional green jobs in the region by 2050.
“The African continent has some of the most abundant renewable energy resources in the world and the potential to transform outcomes for millions of people through the accelerated deployment of a renewable energy based energy system,” La Camera said. “Renewables will increase energy security, create green jobs, promote access to energy, including clean cooking, and help build resilient African economies.”
The pact is also expected to pave the way for collaboration in the African Development Bank’s Desert to Power Initiative, which aims to mobilize public and private funds to install 10 GW of solar power by 2025 in 11 countries in the African region of the Sahel.
