G7 member countries are beginning to redeem their respective funding commitments to the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, the President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has disclosed.
Speaking at the final pledging session for the African Development Fund (ADF) 14th replenishment in Luxemburg on November 18, 2016, Adesina explained that countries such as France have already paid €6 million as part of its commitment to the $10 billion financial pledge by G7 countries to help Africa upgrade its electricity generation capacity using renewable energy sources.
He noted that the European Union and Germany would also pay their own pledge of €3 billion and €2 million respectively to the initiative soon.
“The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, which has the goal of delivering 300GW of renewable energy in 2030 and 10GW by 2020, is now based within the Bank.
“Its delivery unit is now established. The G7 have promised $10 billion to support this initiative, which came out of COP21 and was approved by the African Union. France has already paid in €6 million for the delivery unit and Germany expects to soon pay €2 million. The Bank is working closely with the European Union on energy, with European Commission commitment to provide €3 billion for the initiative,” said Akinwumi in his address to the meeting.
He said AfDB was clearly leading on renewable energy deployment in Africa.
“We will help Africa to unlock its full energy potential, while developing a balanced energy mix to support its industrialization.
“Effective partnerships are being implemented with the UK Government’s Energy Africa Initiative (and UK is the largest contributor to the ADF over the years), the US Power Africa, the Sustainable Energy for All, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), USAID and OPIC, among several others,” he added.
Akinwumi explained on the continent’s pursuit of its climate change agenda that: “The Bank is fully committed in its Climate Action Plan, which will soon be going to our Board. Our commitment is to ensure 100% climate screening for all Bank financed projects.
“We will also support countries to translate their Independent Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) in actions. The Bank has been on the forefront of Africa’s efforts on climate finance – including at COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco, where the Bank’s franchise value as the leading development finance institution for Africa was widely recognized.”
Buttressing the commitment of the Bank to its mandate, he said: “Your support for the ADF-14 cycle will help us to deliver very concrete developmental impacts, across each of the High Five areas of selectivity for interventions.
“Your ADF-14 support will install 46,600 MW of electricity for 24 million households with improved electricity connections. That will light up their homes, allow their kids to study at night without candles and mothers will face less pollution from fuel wood, charcoal and kerosene use. It will save lives and no price can be put on that.”
He also said: “This year, the Bank arranged a $965-million syndicated A/B loan for ESKOM in South Africa, with nine other Banks, the largest ever in Africa. We plan to do more, as we put in place the new syndications team, recently approved by the Board within our new business delivery model.”
