Norway, GEAPP Contribute $64 Million to Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa
The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa has received a $64 million grant from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP).
SEFA is a multi-donor special fund that is managed by the African Development Bank. It provides concessional financing to encourage private sector investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Norway's Minister for International Development, talked about the grant and emphasised SEFA's ongoing work to solve some of the biggest problems that prevent Africa from accessing clean energy.
“Six hundred million Africans lack electricity connection, and 900 million do not have modern cooking stoves,” Tvinnereim said. “With today’s announcement, NORAD – SEFA's partner since 2018 – increased its contribution to NOK 535 million ($54.72 million).”
Joseph Nganga, in charge of Africa for the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, said that GEAPP was happy to work with the African Development Bank to give more Africans access to clean, affordable, and reliable energy.
“We are leapfrogging polluting energy sources and supporting decarbonisation across the energy sector. Together, we will focus our efforts on sustainable energy projects with a high potential to be transformative, scalable, and replicable, and we look forward to supporting SEFA to catalyse and leverage additional financing for these pivotal projects,” he added.
Dr. Daniel Schroth, the Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the African Development Bank, said that the grant funding was important. “These new contributions to SEFA are a recognition of the critical role played by SEFA in catalysing private sector investments in Africa’s sustainable energy sector, and they will allow SEFA to further scale-up its investments over the coming years,” he said.
The announcement was made during a panel discussion during the Climate Summit (COP27), held from November 6 to 18 in Sharm El-Sheikh. Minister Tvinnereim and GEAPP's Director of Country Programmes, Ed Borgstein, participated in the panel discussion titled Renewable energy for climate action, socio-economic transformation in Africa: the role of SEFA.
For more sustainable finance news
Source: ADB
