The global renewable energy market was expected to reach a value of close to $2 trillion by 2030 and just 10 percent of this amount, could add $200 billion to Africa’s economy.
Echoing the need to tap renewable energy resources for sustainable development, the Niger Minister for the Environment and Combating Desertification and Chair of the ARFSD-9 Bureau, Garama Saratou Rabiou Inoussa, said Africa needs financial support.
It also needs to scale up innovative and transformative initiatives such as the Great Green Wall and the Great Blue Wall to achieve the goals of 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063, she said.
UNDP Africa
Speaking at the same event, Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ahunna Eziakonwa, called for the scaling up of energy development models that work because energy poverty was a serious challenge needing urgent action.
Acknowledging the need to alleviate energy poverty in the continent, President of UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Lachezara Stoeva, challenged African countries to embrace green and clean industrialization strategies that promote equitable economic opportunities and help address the climate crisis, said Ms. Stoeva.
“Africa is changing its development narrative by launching ambitious initiatives that could act as game changers for the achievement of the SDGs and Agenda 2063,” Ms. Stoeva emphasized, adding that sustainable industrialization in Africa was crucial to promote inclusive economic transformation, enhance manufacturing and create decent jobs.
For his part, Minister Plenipotentiary in the Mission of Egypt to the United Nations, Mohamed Nasr, said increasing climate impacts and cost of finance, as well as challenges of food and energy security “call for action to enhance resilience and a shift to more climate responsive development models.”
Africa has only 3.3 per cent of global energy consumption and a great potential for renewable energy, but it has attracted only 0.5 per cent of global investment in renewable energy. 600 million Africans still have no access to electricity, Mr. Nasr said.