By Linda Wamune
Curtains have now drawn on the inaugural Africa Climate Summit, which sought to highlight Africa’s roadmap and role towards a sustainable energy transition through low carbon and decarbonization pathways. The high turnout and overwhelming interest from stakeholders within and outside of the continent was encouraging, pointing to the critical role that the Summit played in raising Africa’s voice on the global stage. The event culminated in the Nairobi Declaration, Africa’s new call to action on climate change.
Despite the promise of this historic gathering, it was a missed opportunity for fragile states. Africa is home to twenty of the thirty most fragile nations in the world, according to the Fragile States Index, yet strategies to address the nexus of peace, security and climate change were not adequately covered. As the vast majority of fragile states continue to suffer from persistent energy poverty and limited investment, much more effort is needed to promote economic development and peace in the vulnerable communities that are increasingly on the front lines of climate change.
Secondly, the conference was overwhelmingly focused on carbon markets and left little room to highlight other innovative climate finance solutions. Underinvestment in renewable energy means that there is an increasing risk that fragile countries will fall further behind on their climate and development objectives. Catalytic finance is therefore crucial to realizing new projects at scale, and at the pace required to achieve SDG 7. In addition to carbon credits, other solutions have emerged that increase the flow of climate finance to fragile states. Innovations such as the Peace Renewable Energy Credit (P-REC), represent a new tool to support the financing of new, high impact renewable energy projects in fragile states while helping companies achieve their global clean energy goals.
Thirdly, this was a missed opportunity to discuss how the wider ecosystem of financial actors can crowd in more renewable energy investment in fragile states. Showcasing solutions such as blended finance mechanisms and guarantee schemes, which can provide a lifeline for the key challenges facing renewable energy project development in these countries, would have provided a knowledge sharing and exchange platform for governments, project developers, and other relevant stakeholders from these countries.
As an organization, Energy Peace Partners (EPP) supports the Summit’s declaration that proposes the establishment of a new financing architecture that is responsive to Africa’s needs. The governments of fragile states should be encouraged and supported to promote policies and commitments that create a more enabling environment, including with regard to the role that innovative finance mechanisms can play to de-risk new project development. It is therefore our hope that the next Summit will provide a better platform for addressing the unique challenges that fragile and conflict-affected countries face in their energy transition.