Determined to fight against climate change, African and European states have agreed at the last EU-AU summit to implement a common strategy to achieve a fair energy transition on the continent. Detailed review.
By the editorial staff
Following the Partnership for a Just Energy Transition between South Africa and international donors, announced at COP26 in Glasgow (31 October-13 November 2021), a new collective framework for developing similar partnerships for the rest of the continent was presented during the last European Union-African Union Summit, held on 17 and 18 February. The stakes are indeed high for the African continent insofar as it is expected to be the region of the world most affected by climate change, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), despite its small share in the production of CO2 emissions (3% of global emissions for 20% of the world’s population).
Accelerating access to electricity for all and increasing national contributions
To succeed in its energy transition and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the continent will have to strive to achieve two major objectives, namely « accelerate access to electricity for all » (600 million Africans are deprived of access to electricity or suffer from recurrent load shedding) and « increase nationally determined contributions », recalled the participants in the round table on climate change and energy transition of the summit. The African and European delegations agreed on the need to give African countries « the time and concessional financing necessary to enable them to achieve a fair energy transition.
In detail, the strategies for implementing these new partnerships were to be based on a strengthened commitment by each country to decarbonize its energy mix, including a gradual move away from coal; increased financial and technical resources, through appropriate instruments, including concessional loans, guarantees and grants; and a pragmatic, country-led and solution-oriented dialogue, based in particular on reliable national assessments. Participants in the summit’s climate change and energy transition roundtable also emphasized that these partnerships should be focused on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with particular attention to « access to energy, employment opportunities, including for youth and women, and the mobilization of new industrial sectors and innovation incubators. »
A private sector called upon
To meet these ambitious objectives, the private sector has been called to the rescue, with European and G7 companies being « encouraged, when launching projects under the Just Energy Transition initiative, to strengthen their partnership with the African private sector and to develop local content, including through technology transfer.
All of these initiatives, taken together, could be a game changer. In fact, many advances have already been made: 20 million more people have access to electricity each year in Africa, which is twice as many as ten years ago. This positive trend is partly driven by a few large countries such as Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya, which have tripled their electricity access rate in five years thanks to grid connection programs and the development of off-grid energy production systems.
