European Financial Flows on SDG7 to Africa – Third Edition

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – 17 December 2024

The third report on ‘European financial flows on SDG7 to Africa’, commissioned by the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP), shows that current investments towards the UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) in Africa have led to notable progress, but larger efforts will be required to reach universal clean energy access on the continent.

The pace of progress remains too slow to meet SDG7 in Africa, especially considering the 2030 target. This is despite consistent efforts by the European Union (EU) and its Member States, other public donors, and African governments, which have resulted in the addition of vital infrastructure. The repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and shocks resulting from geopolitical tensions have further slowed down progress in recent years.

Building on the first two reports, the third edition provides a comprehensive analysis of the financing landscape for SDG7 in Africa over the 2014-2022 period. The first report in 2021 discovered that accomplishing SDG7 in Africa would require a substantial amount of resources. Results indicated that investments should be increased by at least 350% per year to reach SDG7 by 2030. The second report continued examining Europe’s financial flows to Africa and measures how fast the rate of investment has grown due to the long-term support from African governments, multilaterals, and EU institutions and member states.

The third edition of the report shows that European Institutions and EU Member States continue to be global leaders in financing SDG7-related projects on the African continent. Over the 2014-2022 period, funding from public donors towards SDG7 totalled EUR 61.7 billion, with the largest provider being multilateral institutions (EUR 35 billion). The progress towards SDG7 also relies significantly on increased efforts from African states. From 2014-2022, African national governments spent a total of EUR 105 billion on energy. For SDG7 to become a reality in Africa by 2030, tremendous financial efforts will, however, still be needed from all funding sources.