Good Neighbourliness, Inclusive Engagement, Shared Priorities: Building on 2025 Momentum in the Africa–Europe Energy Partnership

To reflect is to learn, and to learn is to grow. As the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) Secretariat approaches its 20-year anniversary next year, we enter 2026 with a renewed commitment to contribute towards a just, inclusive, and sustainable Africa-Europe energy space. We embark upon 2026 on a reflective note, where we look back at the developments, milestones, and the challenges of 2025 through the lens of our Steering Group (SG) members. The insights gained through this reflection will prove instrumental as we operationalise our plans for an eventful year ahead.

As we traverse through the success stories from the past years, one thing becomes increasingly clear – as the energy transition accelerates, efforts are no longer limited to showcasing intent, they are now about recalibrating execution strategies to further the joint vision for an effective bicontinental energy partnership. In conversations with Philipp Knill, Deputy Director General Africa at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and General. Mohamed Ossama Eissa, Head of Central Administration for International Cooperation & Agreements with the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, the AEEP delves into questions of what are the key achievements?, what are the challenges that remain?, and what’s the way forward?.

Powering through ‘Difficult Circumstances’: AU-EU Good Neighbourliness

2025 was a defining year from the lens of clean energy advancements. The recently published European Electricity Review reveals that, for the first time in 2025, wind and solar based electricity generation in the European Union (EU) surpassed electricity produced from fossil fuels. Despite this milestone moment and optimistic forecasts, however, the year also brought with it novel challenges within global climate-energy dialogues. In conversation with AEEP, Knill underscores that 2025 began with some ‘difficult circumstances’ arising out of the geo-strategic shifts, marked by the United States position turning ‘less favourable towards renewables’ as well as sporadic tensions among big players in the energy space.

Even in the face of heightened unpredictability, however, BMZ notes that the AEEP Secretariat continued to play a ‘significant role in keeping the African and European partners united in strategic questions and reform for accelerating the energy transition frameworks.’ In this regard, one may say that the African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) have demonstrated immense value in fostering eye-level partnership as closest neighbours, or as the saying goes, good neighbours becoming the best of allies. This good neighbourliness translated into commendable outcomes, for instance, at the Second African Climate Summit (ACS2) and the 7th AU-EU Summit.

Furthermore, in keeping with the spirit of prioritising improved coordination, integration, and unification of efforts to realise the ambition of a just energy transition, AEEP also carved a meaningful trajectory at the regional level. General Eissa, for instance, lauds the AEEP’s efforts in broadening the Partnership’s participation base to include key regional institutions. The subsequent integration of regional power pools and institutional partners in the technical-political dialogue fora boosted the overall inclusivity and efficiency of ongoing dialogues on energy security.

As we now look ahead in shaping an ambitious post-2027 vision – following the AEEP’s 20th anniversary, General Eissa echoes the sentiment that the key lessons learnt from these efforts affirm the ‘importance of aligning national and regional priorities as well as strengthening African ownership of initiatives and linking policy frameworks to measurable outcomes.’

Fostering Complementarity, Inclusivity, and Synergies

Progress within complex systems such as the energy transition rarely arrives in a single moment. Rather, much like drops of water that together form an ocean, it is slow and steady, built through a series of deliberate interventions. In this regard, high-level summits in 2025 played a catalytic role in launching dedicated initiatives to advance Africa’s energy transition goals. Some of the most prominent ones include the launch of the EU-funded Continental Energy Programme in Africa (CEPA), BMZ-backed project for Accelerating the Energy Transition in Africa (ENGAGE), and the African Climate Innovation Compact (ACIC), all launched at the ACS2 held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 8-10 September.

In conversation with the AEEP, both Knill and General Eissa acknowledge the added value of key initiatives launched at ACS2 in realising the shared vision between Africa and Europe for a just energy transition, energy-secure future, and the expansion of renewable energy. In order to reap maximum benefits out of them, General Eissa also highlights the need to continue ‘ensuring complementarity among these initiatives, avoiding duplication, and strengthening overall coordination with existing regional frameworks.’

In the same vein, Knill emphasises that these initiatives should continue to serve the purpose of contributing to the ‘big question’ of clean energy partnerships and strive for ‘close alignment with the African priorities as defined at both the AU and EU levels.’ To this end, a way forward lays in harnessing the synergies among the newly launched and pre-existing initiatives to best serve the goal of a sustainable, secure, and inclusive energy future for both Africa and Europe.

‘Renewable Energy is where the Music Plays’: Emerging Trends

Throughout an enriching 2025, Knill reiterates that on a bicontinental level we had a ‘very clear confirmation from African and European partners that renewables is where the music now plays!’ Further, it has been noted that ‘even though the global framework conditions posed some difficult questions, the AEEP has done a commendable job at maintaining the bilateral dialogue momentum.’

As years go by and new questions arise, Knill adds that the AEEP will continue to emerge ‘only as strong as the continental partners, member states, and the Steering Committee make it.’ The new year ushers in a growing optimism towards making the Partnership more ‘inclusive’ with the possible admission of more African member states, greater involvement from the European side, and expansion of observer roles so the dialogue formats remain ‘lively and fresh.’ At the same time, however, striking a delicate balance is best advised, so ‘we remain careful not to create too big of a machine – and strategically invest joint resources in a way that can be measured against tangible results.’

At a regional level, General Eissa backs the push for a ‘balanced and inclusive representation’ within the AEEP and Steering Group ‘that best reflects African priorities,’ alongside progressive efforts to ensure that strategic initiatives are anchored in concrete and measurable results as next steps for the Partnership. In light of these emerging trends that the SG aims to play their cards on, Egypt foregrounds the need for stronger regional and cross-border power interconnection projects, deeper innovative financing partnerships, smoother integration of large-scale renewable energy projects into power systems, and expanded energy storage solutions as crucial stepping stones for furthering the joint AU-EU vision for an energy-secure future.

With a memorable 2025 and many such significant years as the building blocks of the Partnership, we continue to reflect, to learn, and to grow. As AEEP stands at the cusp of turning twenty soon, the year 2026 will mark a milestone – one that acknowledges what has worked, what remains to be strengthened, and how the partnership must continually evolve.