Africa’s and Europe’s Intertwined Energy Futures Scrutinised at EUSEW2026
The Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) Secretariat and European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) co-organised a session on “How Europe’s Energy Security is intertwined with Africa’s Green Industrialisation” on Thursday 11 June 2026 at the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW 2026) in Brussels.
As the flagship event for European energy policy, EUSEW offered a critical platform to investigate the narrative of interlinked fates between Africa and Europe.
Moderated by Dr Towela Nyirenda-Jere, Head of Secretariat, AEEP, the policy debate highlighted how the bi-continental partnership on energy and green industrialisation can be strengthened to offer a true partnership of equals.
In his opening remarks, Mr Laurent Sillano, Head of Unit, Regional and Multi-country Programmes for Africa, International Partnerships, European Commission (EC), highlighted that Europe’s energy security interests and Africa’s development goals can align. He reconfirmed EU’s commitment to contributing to Africa’s energy transition, through the Global Gateway strategy, and in particular the Africa–EU Green Energy Initiative (AEGEI). AEGEI’s primary goals are to increase electricity production from renewable sources, broaden energy access, promote energy efficiency, and support regulatory reforms to create a favourable environment for private investment in Africa.
Mr Sillano also spoke about the need for Europe to diversifying the critical raw material supply chains beyond extraction and noted that there are real opportunities in local value addition where Africa’s industrialisation can and should be powered by its own resources. This is not just about securing supplies for Europe, it is about building our shared resilience, Mr Sillano concluded.
Mr Alfonso Medinilla, Head of climate change and green transition, European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), however, argued that the narrative of an “equal partnership” should be treated with caution, as is it usually more reflected politically than practically. While the EU is genuinely seeking to support industrial investment in Africa, many projects are still geared mainly towards export. However, there are uncertainties around European industrial policies and “Made in Europe” requirements, impacting European demand for green industrial goods and green molecules, and generating uncertainties and risks for export projects. He also added that a lot of industrial projects, especially for green hydrogen, are not rooted in reality, in terms of costs, bankability, and export conditions. He finally advocated for a clear and long-term geographical industrial policy, arguing that a crisis logic does not add up with investment timelines.
Ms Gihan Bayoumi Attia, Deputy UNIDO Representative of the UNIDO Sub-Regional Hub, Egypt, added that we risk missing the point if we focus only on future export opportunities while overlooking immediate challenges such as grid instability, power outages, and high electricity costs. Without reliable and affordable electricity, green industrialisation will remain out of reach for many African industries.
Speaking from his vast experience in Egypt and the Northern African region, Dr Maged Mahmoud, Executive Director, Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE), noted that Europe has been an important partner for developing energy infrastructure in Northern Africa. Looking at future collaboration, he, however, also concluded that the era on green hydrogen is not shaping up to be as promising as thought.
– As Europe now speaks the language of carbon intensity instead of being purely focussed only on green hydrogen as before, it does open a market for transitional phases such as blue hydrogen, said Mr Mahmoud.
He nevertheless added that it is still challenging because of regulatory bottlenecks, the challenge of additionality – meaning the regulatory principle ensuring that green hydrogen production uses newly built, unsupported renewable energy sources rather than existing grid power – and the fact that that production does not fit with the renewables industry in the region.
Mr Mahmoud highlighted that North Africa is not only a supplier of electrons and green molecules to Europe, but both regions can benefit from complementarity of resources and profiles for flexibility and balancing.
He added that there is in general a need for a more holistic approach towards African-European cooperation on energy. European investors come on project-by-project base, it leads to a fragmented market, said Mr Mahmoud.
Mr Kudakwashe Manjonjo, Just Transition Advisor, Power Shift Africa, said there is an understanding in Africa of the joint vision that is being built under the Africa-Europe partnership and that results can be seen on the ground through Europe’s Global Gateway support and for example Mission 300.
He emphasised that the continent has a competitive advantage with regards to renewable energy resources and costs, which should make the continent a global leader in green industries, but expressed concerns that some partners seem to focus more on securing supply chains than promoting value creation on the continent.
He also addressed the question of the risk perception hindering investments on the continent, by highlighting the case of transmission lines. With an electricity demand growing to achieve universal access and the already existing industries on the continent, these projects should not be perceived as not investable.
When finally analysing Europe’s value proposition compared to other international players, including China, Mr Manjonjo nevertheless noted that whereas China has a long relationship with many African countries, Europe’s strength right now should be to focus on cheap renewables for Africa. China is not always a friend, there is deindustrialisation happening, in for example chrome production in Zimbabwe and South Africa. This is where Europe’s Global Gateway can come in and look at how we can get as much cheap energy as possible in Africa, which will have the knock-on effect for cheap industrialisation. This is the competitive advantage we have in Africa, Mr Manjonjo concluded.
