What is the objective of the UAE for African Clean Energy?
The UAE will $4.5 billion to Africa’s clean energy initiatives. But what does it mean for Africa and the UAE?
At the African Climate Summit 2023, which was held in Nairobi from the 4th to the 6th of September, it was revealed that the money will be sourced from the UAE’s both public and private sectors, with Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Etihad Credit Insurance, Masdar, and AMEA Power as the notable contributors.
Together with Africa50, a platform for investments created by African nations and the Africa Development Bank, the funds will be distributed.
The African continent contributes only 3 percent of global emissions. Despite this, they suffer some of the most severe consequences.
One of these consequences is hunger. 20% of Africans are now at risk of being hungry. Climate change is preventing at least 5% of the continent’s GDP development each year.
Energy poverty in Africa was also acknowledged, highlighting that almost half of Africa’s population still lack access to electricity and almost 1 billion people lack access to clean cooking fuels, and this energy gap will only widen as Africa’s population grows.
Masdar, also known as the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, is an energy company with operations in 22 African nations. It is also investing an additional $2 billion in the new program. By the year 2030, the Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company hopes to bring 10 gigawatts of sustainable energy capacity to African countries with the help of its Infinity Power platform on top of another $8 billion in project financing.
AMEA Power is a renewable energy company in the Middle East and North African region. They are planning to mobilize $5 billion and divide it into two purposes:
About $1 billion will be sourced from equity commitments. On the other hand, the remaining $4 billion will be sourced from project finance in order to achieve the goal of 5 GW worth of renewable energy capacity in Africa by the year 2030.
The clean energy initiative will be a part of Etihad 7, a development platform sponsored by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the goal of providing 100 million Africans with clean electricity by 2035.
COP28 President-designate Sultan Al-Jaber urged donors to “close out the $100 billion pledge they made over a decade ago and to replenish the green climate fund.”
Al-Jaber also urged donors to “double adaptation finance by 2025” in order to address the funding gap between mitigation and adaptation, as well as to “turn the Global Goal on Adaptation from theory and text into tangible goals.”
