ABIDJAN, December 17 (ANA) – The board of directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has endorsed the proposal by the bank’s management to serve as trustee to administer and manage the resources of the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI), and also to host the AREI independent delivery unit as requested by African heads of state and government.
The AREI was an Africa-owned and Africa-led initiative of the African Union (AU), the AfDB said in a statement.
It aimed to harness Africa’s abundant renewable energy resources to help achieve the sustainable development goals, enhanced well-being, and sound economic development by ensuring universal access to sufficient amounts of clean, appropriate, and affordable energy, as well as help African countries “leapfrog towards” renewable energy systems that support their low-carbon development strategies while enhancing economic and energy security. In so doing the initiative would ensure access to energy while addressing climate change.
“It is indeed Africa’s bold effort at transitioning to green growth,” the AfDB statement said.
AREI was launched at COP21 in Paris in December 2015 and was receiving strong international support from development partners who had committed to mobilising at least US10 billion cumulatively between 2015 and now to harness Africa’s renewable energy potential and expand energy access across the continent.
AREI would have a governance arrangement consisting of a board of directors, a technical committee, an independent delivery unit, and a trustee who would serve as the host of the independent delivery unit.
“The bank [AfDB] is grateful to France and Germany who have already committed EU6 million and EU2 million respectively to supporting the independent delivery unit.
“The bank will consequently host AREI as an open access global fund within the bank’s power, energy, climate change, and green growth complex. As an open access global fund, accredited implementing agencies operating in Africa will be able to access the fund. It will be functionally independent from the trustee’s decision-making structures.
“The bank’s new deal on energy for Africa is a partnership-driven effort. AREI will be a strong partner in ensuring that Africa achieves universal access to energy and that the share of renewables in Africa’s energy mix is significantly ramped up,” the AfDB statement said.
– African News Agency (ANA)
