Climate summit touts Africa’s role as clean energy ‘superpower’

At Africa’s first-ever climate summit in Nairobi this week, government and UN leaders sought to promote the continent as a source of solutions to the world’s global warming challenge, rooted in its rich natural resources from sunshine to forests.

But they identified one big snag: a lack of finance to turn that potential into the reality of a green and fair transition.

“We must see in green growth not just a climate imperative, but also a fountain of multi-billion-dollar economic opportunities that Africa and the world is primed to capitalise,” Kenyan President William Ruto told the summit.

In a break from the conventional view of the continent as bearing the brunt of floods, drought and other climate change impacts, the Nairobi gathering highlighted how African nations can tackle the climate crisis – especially by boosting renewable energy – and help their people prosper.

While rich in critical minerals, including cobalt used in electric vehicle batteries, and home to 60% of the planet’s best solar resources, Africa receives just 2% of global clean energy spending, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

In a new report released at the summit on Wednesday, the IEA and the African Development Bank Group said energy investment in Africa needs to more than double by 2030 to achieve the region’s energy development and climate goals, with nearly two-thirds of that going into clean energy.

Malawi, for example, estimates it will need more than $3.6 billion to expand wind, hydropower and on- and off-grid solar facilities to increase the share of its population with access to electricity from 12.5% to 100% by 2030.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said renewable energy could be “the African miracle” if the continent created an alliance with developed countries, financial institutions and technology companies to drive progress.

“We must all work together for Africa to become a renewable energy superpower,” the UN chief told the summit on Tuesday.

In Nairobi, hundreds of millions of dollars in pledges were made to support the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative in a bid to fund climate action by selling carbon credits backed by forest protection, land restoration and renewable energy projects.

And the United Arab Emirates – a major oil and gas producer that will host this year’s COP28 climate summit – announced it will give $4.5 billion to clean energy initiatives in Africa.

African countries – which account for less than 4% of global planet-heating emissions – are seeking more climate finance from wealthy, high-polluting countries, including through a new “loss and damage” fund due to be set up at COP28 and carbon taxes on sectors like fossil fuels, maritime transport and aviation.

Those and other proposals were enshrined in a “Nairobi Declaration” adopted by more than 20 African leaders at the summit on Wednesday, which also emphasised the continent’s untapped renewable energy potential and outlined a common position ahead of December’s COP28 talks in Dubai.

The IEA report pointed to several barriers holding back investment in Africa for scaling up its renewable energy efforts and transitioning away from polluting fossil fuels, including mounting indebtedness and political instability.

“The African continent has huge clean energy potential… But the difficult backdrop for financing means many transformative projects can’t get off theground,” Fatih Birol, director of the Paris-based agency, said in a statement.