UAE announces $4.5bn in Africa clean energy

As the Africa Climate Summit 2023 progresses at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, UAE announces a move to invest in Africa’s clean energy.

“We will deploy $4.5 billion… to jumpstart a pipeline of bankable clean energy projects in this very important continent,” said Sultan Al Jaber, manager of renewable energy firm Masdar, the UAE’s national oil company ADNOC and the COP28 climate talks.

“If Africa loses, we all lose,” warned Jaber, who is also the UAE’s minister for industry and advanced technology.

He said the investment aim is “to develop 15 GW (gigawatts) of clean power by 2030” and “catalyze at least an additional $12.5 billion from multilateral, public and private sources”. He called for a “surgical intervention of the global financial architecture that was built for a different era.”  He urged institutions to lower debt burdens to this effect.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s former Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, says “We cannot be asked to do a dramatic transition.” According to him, it is not merely saying “We need a Carbon market, we need finance to be able to transition.” Rather, “to transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy, there must be some use of fossil fuel, especially gas, as transition fuel.”

“It is impossible to expect countries that are gas or fossil fuel rated to just suddenly change from gas or fossil fuel straight into renewable energy,” the former vice president said as he addressed journalists in Kenya on Monday after moderating a panel session on “Carbon Markets in the Global South” at the ongoing Africa Climate Summit.