The Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4ALL), the UN secretary-general’s project, has launched the African Energy Leaders Group (AELG) at the 2015 World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos Switzerland.
The group plans to bring together political and economic leaders at the highest level to drive the reforms and investment needed to end energy poverty and sustainably fuel the continent’s economic future.
The AELG is formed to foster deep energy sector reforms, encourage innovative public-private partnerships, promote renewable energy, support technological innovation and seek ways to boost economic gains through the value chain.
It will also work to create integrated and commercially viable regional power pools by scaling up investment under existing regional plans. “The AELG will seek to ensure that the energy sector becomes the driving force for economic transformation for long-term development,” said Kandeh Yumkella, special representative of the UN secretary-general and chief executive of the SE4ALL initiative.
Some 625 million people across sub-Saharan Africa – more than two-thirds of the total population – have no access to electricity, and many more rely on inefficient, hazardous fuels such as wood or charcoal to cook or heat their homes.
Existing power supplies are often inadequate and unreliable, handicapping business and squeezing economic growth. Underscoring the AELG’s commitment to uniting the public and private sector in a common goal, the media launch was attended by Daniel Kablan-Duncan, Prime Minister of Ivory Coast; Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Aliko Dangote, President, Dangote Industries Limited, and Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank. Commenting on the initiative, Elumelu initiative said, “Investors in this space are rational. The risks are huge; the capital requirements are equally huge. If you want to invest in this space, you have to first survey the environment beyond economics; policy, stability, enforceability of rules, the nature of the regulatory framework. If the right policies are in place, investors and financiers will be encouraged to invest.” He maintained that the key priority in 2015 for Africa is “policy, policy, policy.”
Kaberuka on his part stated that it was not enough just to generate energy, but to provide access to those who currently have none. Kablan-Duncan added “right here we have investors, we have policymakers and we also have financiers. The combination of these three stakeholders will make this work very well. If you want the private sector to be the engine, you need to change the framework. We need to change the framework so they will be interested in investing.”
