High-Level Africa Consultative Forum on Renewable Energy

The IRENA High-Level Africa Consultative Forum on Renewable Energy opened on Friday, July 8. Participants discussed opportunities and challenges for renewable energy for Africa, strategic partnerships, and best practices and challenges in promoting renewable energy investment.

During the opening ceremony, Adnan Amin, Director-General, IRENA, highlighted that what Africa needs most is enabling policy frameworks on renewable energy that will attract private investment. Sultan Al Jaber (UAE), President of the 1st Session of the Assembly of IRENA, emphasized the interlinkages between energy, global security, climate change mitigation and poverty reduction.

Habib Ouane, Vice-Chair of the Conference of Energy Ministers of Africa (CEMA) and Minister of Energy and Water, Mali, highlighted Africa’s underinvestment in energy infrastructure. He identified renewable energy as key for ensuring Africa’s energy security. Farooq Abudullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy, India, called on African countries to take advantage of specific programs offered in India geared towards study and training in renewable energy technologies. Rajendra Pachauri highlighted off-grid decentralized energy infrastructure investments as a potential win-win approach for accelerating energy access while contributing to climate change mitigation. Kandeh Yumkella, Chair of UN-Energy, and Director-General, UNIDO, said the key question is how Africa can ride the “green wave” and develop its economies.