In partnership with PACJA, WRI Rwanda Climate Change and Development Network hosted a meeting in Kigali from December, 13 to 14, 2022 with the theme ‘Enhancing the Capacity of CSOs and Private Sector to Play a Meaningful Role in the Realization of Energy Access for Sub-Saharan Africa.’
Different Africa Civil Society Organizations and Private Sectors attended this two-day meeting that focused on more efforts in integrated energy planning and capacity building.
Faustin Vuningoma, the Coordinator of the Rwanda Climate Change and Development Network (RCCDN) which was the host of the two days meeting said what CSOs ought to be doing, “Civil society organizations should play major roles in bringing about more advocacy and capacity building in regard to access to sustainable and accessible renewable energy. This roundtable dialogue will aim to realize energy access goals, increase energy consumption, and promote sub-Saharan economic growth.”
Poor access to energy in rural areas slows down development growth in Africa.
It was highlighted that 7 in 10 people living in rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa have no access to electricity which then lead to a slowdown in achieving development goals. “In this 21st century, electricity remains an important issue to the majority of Africans. At the same time, the policymakers do not find it strange and want to reverse the situation,” said Charles Mwangi, the Head of Programmes and Research at the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).
Mwangi added that access to affordable and reliable energy for community facilities including schools and health/clinics will be central to the delivery of needed services, thus affecting positively the well-being of the underserved populations in rural areas as well as other places in Africa.
“While Africa’s energy sector is critical to the continent’s economic prospects, it has not been able to achieve the reliable domestic energy supply that its people and businesses require. Therefore, the energy demand in Africa has been increasing at an annual rate of around 3% which remains the highest among all continents; but still, the energy supply continues to slow down significantly. Private Sectors should be brought on board in tackling issues as far as Sustainable Energy Access is concerned in our respective countries,” revealed Benson Ireri, the Africa Lead on Energy Access Program at the World Resources Institute.
Ireri also said that 35 in 54 countries in Africa have undertaken some form of commitment towards Net-zero emissions. Despite such public commitments, decisive actions and implementation remain inadequate and the level of change is slow. Therefore, investment in low-carbon energy systems in Africa downshifts the global rate; but despite global climate finance commitments from developed economies aimed at $100bn per annum, the allocation to Africa falls significantly, short of what the continent requires to meet global targets and civil society can help raise the urgent awareness to the dire situation within communities.
The Regional Principal Officer at the African Development Bank Group, Dr Olufunso Somorin confirmed that Africa accounts for only 3% of cumulative global C02 emissions, “We’d love to see and put more effort in scaling and do big things from policy frameworks to later get the finance and investments that flow with Renewable Energy & Access to save Environment.”
Dr Olufunso Sumorin counted that the continent, however, is being swept along in the global energy transition and increasingly coming under the same net-zero policy pressure as developed economies such as the EU. With that being said, he added “In order for Africa to achieve its SDGs relating to energy, its generation capacity will need to be doubled by 2030 and multiplied fivefold by 2050. If unmet, this energy demand-supply gap will be harmful to Africa’s standard of living and will greatly hinder economic growth of the governments will never have enough money to do all that needs to be done, but they can use what is available to help better the lives of people on the energy front.”
To sum it up, understanding Sub-Saharan Africa’s energy access landscape is important to understand the climate and environment conservation in regards to Africans Development and its betterment with the CSOs part. The continent CSOs call for scaling up people-centred investments in renewable energy to meet the growth continental demand for energy. Its availability, access and affordability for all its key to building climate-resilient communities. CSOs aim to achieve coherence and coordination through multilateral engagement in efforts to increase access to energy.
With the help of: Ines Teta
