The German government has pledged €100 million to the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), demonstrating its support for efforts to harness Africa’s renewable energy potential and accelerate the continent’s transition to sustainable energy sources.
The announcement was made at the United Nations High-Level Dialogue on Energy, which took place on September 24 in New York as part of the United Nations General Assembly.
The money will be used to encourage private sector investment in green-baseload projects, which is a SEFA priority.
To enhance the penetration of renewable energy in African grids, it will support technical assistance and investment in power generation, transmission, and distribution.
The financing comes after Germany’s first €50 million donations to SEFA in 2020.
During the High-Level Dialogue, Norbert Barthle, Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, said, “We need to expedite the global energy transition.” All fossil fuels must be phased out quickly, and renewable energy must be massively expanded. Now is the moment to act.”
The funding is in line with the G20 Compact with Africa, which was launched under Germany’s G20 presidency.
The Compact encourages macroeconomic, corporate, and financial change in Africa in order to increase private investment.
“Germany’s new contribution is a big boost towards SEFA’s capitalization objective of $500 million,” said Dr. Daniel Schroth, the Bank’s Acting Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.
SEFA’s catalytic role in advancing Africa’s energy transition and supporting clean energy access solutions has also been recognized.”
SEFA is a multi-donor special fund aimed at unlocking private sector investments that help Africans have universal access to cheap, dependable, sustainable, and modern energy services, in line with the Bank’s New Deal on Energy for Africa policy and Sustainable Development Goal 7.
The Danish government, Germany, Italy, Norway, the Nordic Development Fund, Sweden, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States have all contributed to SEFA.
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