Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) highlights accelerated financing for SDG7 at the 8th PIDA week
The 8th Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) Week will take place in Addis, Ababa, Ethiopia on 24-29 November 2024 under the theme “Fostering Resilient and Inclusive Infrastructure for Africa’s Sustainable Growth: Leveraging Transformative Financing and Regional Integration”.
The five-day event focuses on the critical sectors of the PIDA programme, including energy, transport and information and communication technology (ICT), and more specifically focuses on the intersections of the water-energy-food nexus, green transport, urban development, and the broader green economy.
The Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) will host a discussion on “Advancing Africa’s Energy Future – AU-EU collaboration for accelerated financing” on 27 November (15:00-16:00) during PIDA Week. The panel discussion will highlight African-European joint action for achieving SDG7 – access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all in Africa. The session will also showcase how the contributions by African governments and the technical and financial support of Europe is instrumental for advancing initiatives such as the African Single Electricity Market (AfSEM), the Continental Power Systems Masterplan (CMP), and the Africa-EU Green Energy Initiative (AEGEI), all of which feed into the achievement of SDG7.
The AfSEM and CMP have been adopted as flagship projects of Agenda 2063 and endorsed by the African Union Heads of State Summit in early 2024. They aim to promote integration and socio-economic growth by ensuring universal access to clean, affordable, and uninterrupted electricity across Africa by interconnecting national power grids into synchronised regional power pools, eventually forming a single continental electricity market.
The Africa-EU Green Energy Initiative (AEGEI), proposed during the 6th African Union-European Union Summit 2022, aims to consolidate European joint sustained efforts to support green energy investments in Africa, with the goal to support the deployment of at least 50 GW of additional renewable energy generation capacity by 2030, providing at least 100 million people in Africa with access to electricity.
New data analysed by the AEEP, however, shows that the continent is still a distance away from achieving universal energy access by 2030 as aspired in the SDG7. European Institutions and Member States continue to be one of the most important contributors of SDG7-compliant financing, alongside multilateral institutions and African Member States. Nevertheless, further substantial, even game-changing amounts of new finance is needed to keep the SDG7 goal within reach, even if later than 2030.
Against the backdrop of these findings the high-level panel will elaborate on bicontinental advancements on energy to-date and investigate how joint initiatives such as AfSEM, CMP and AEGEI can support and ensure adequate financing to meet the energy needs in Africa.
Speakers include:
– H.E. Dr Amani Abou Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, AUC
– H.E. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD (TBC)
– H.E. Ambassador Javier Niño Pérez, EU Ambassador to the African Union
– Mr. Muyangwa Muyangwa, Director General of the National Pension Scheme Authority, Zambia & Chairman, Africa Social Security Association
– Energy ministry representative, South Africa/Tanzania (TBC)
About PIDA
The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) is a strategic framework designed to address Africa’s infrastructure deficits in key sectors such as transport, energy, water, and information and ICT. PIDA plays a critical role in promoting regional integration, economic growth, and sustainable development across the continent. It is implemented through Priority Action Plans (PAPs), with PIDA PAP1 (2012-2020) and PIDA PAP2 (2021-2030) focusing on vital infrastructure projects that align with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Find out more and register: https://au-pida.org/events/
