REPORT + WEBINAR: Global Dialogue: Scaling A Clean Energy Food Transformation

20 April 2021. Power for All, The Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA), The Malabo Montpellier Panel, and The Rockefeller Foundation hosted a virtual discussion on the most innovative approaches to unlock the potential of Renewable Energy to transform Food Systems in Africa and Asia.

Renewable energy has the potential to transform food systems in Africa and developing Asia, build a more climate-resilient future for smallholder farmers, and drive economic growth. Not just using solar irrigation, which has already seen significant momentum in the past 5 years, but for agro-processing, cold storage and much more. According to the IFC, however, affordability is the main barrier preventing smallholder farmers from adopting these solutions at scale. Numerous other barriers exist. Unlocking the potential requires business models and systems approaches that can take advantage of digitalization, innovative financing and “servitization”, which democratizes access and aggregates demand.

Resource:

Malabo Montpellier Panel (2019) Energized: Policy innovations to power the transformation of Africa’s agriculture and food system 76 pp.

Energized: Report Summary, 2 pp

Energy is a key input in the food system and the basis for rural development. This report – Energized: Policy innovations to power the transformation of Africa’s agriculture and food system – provides an overall picture of the state of play for energy in African agriculture, presents a framework for policy innovation and design, and focuses on what six African countries — Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia — have done successfully in terms of institutional and policy innovation for energy expansion in support of agriculture and rural communities.

• Malabo Montpellier Panel (2019) Energized: Country Case Study Summary Table 2 pp
• Energy is a key input in the food system and the basis for rural development. This report – Energized: Policy innovations to power the transformation of Africa’s agriculture and food system – provides an overall picture of the state of play for energy in African agriculture, presents a framework for policy innovation and design, and focuses on what six African countries — Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia — have done successfully in terms of institutional and policy innovation for energy expansion in support of agriculture and rural communities. The summary table presents institutional, policy and programmatic innovations and implementation modalities of the country case studies.
• Malabo Montpellier Panel (2019) Energized: Case Studies on Policy innovation to power the transformation of Africa’s agriculture and food system 
• Energized: Country Case Study Summary Table 2 pp
• Malabo Montpellier Panel (2019) Energized: Zambia Case Study 6 pp
  Employing a cluster-based approach and offering fiscal incentives to diversify and strengthen supply are notable components of Zambia’s energy strategy, with reduced import duties, smart subsidies, low-interest loans and waivers helping make agricultural power supplies more affordable.
• Malabo Montpellier Panel (2019) Energized: South Africa Case Study 5 pp
  South Africa has made significant progress in improving access and use of energy to foster economic growth. From 1992 to 2013, the increase of the electricity expansion indicator is estimated at 11.23 thereby being above the average of 8 for Africa as a whole, and the agricultural value added per worker growth rate averaged 5.08 percent annually.
• Malabo Montpellier Panel (2019) Energized: Senegal Case Study 4 pp
  Since liberalizing its energy sector to incentivize independent power producers (IPPs), Senegal has achieved its electrification targets and shifted its priorities towards expanding electricity access to 60 per cent of rural areas by 2022.
• Malabo Montpellier Panel (2019) Energized: Morocco Case Study 6 pp
  The Kingdom of Morocco succeeded in creating a private sector market to increase the use of renewables and achieve greater energy efficiency was central to Morocco’s policy design and implementation, with fiscal incentives introduced to encourage wide-scale adoption of renewable energies.
• Malabo Montpellier Panel (2019) Energized: Ghana Case Study 6 pp
  The government of Ghana has been ambitious in developing policies and regulations to promote policies and regulations relating to the sustainable, efficient use of energy. With a strong emphasis on facilitating private sector engagement through regulation, as well as expanding local research and technical capabilities, Ghana’s universal energy access interventions placed particular focus on rural areas and the agricultural processing sector.
• Malabo Montpellier Panel (2019) Energized: Ethiopia Case Study 6 pp
• The government of Ethiopia has been ambitious in developing policies and regulations to promote policies and regulations relating to the sustainable, efficient use of energy. Ethiopia has placed electrification at the core of its transformation strategy, electricity access in Ethiopia doubled between 2010 and 2016, largely through an expansion in electricity generation from renewables.

Related:

23 April 2021. the High-Level Green Investment Forum EU-Africa: new investment pathways towards sustainable, inclusive development for Africa’s green future. This is a joint event of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

This high-level forum brought leading government and business figures, international and development financial institutions, and academia together, and get the perspectives of both the public and private sectors on sustainable development and green investment in Africa. It shared experiences, innovative approaches and opportunities to mobilise private and public capital towards the Green Transition in Africa, as well as showcasing how green and sustainable business models are profitable, create jobs and generate wealth while contributing to achieving the world’s climate objectives.

Regional workshops to discuss sustainable investment

• 24 March. Mobilising private and public capital for Africa’s green transition – Dakar, Senegal
• Find out more
• 30 March Climate-smart agriculture – Harare, Zimbabwe
• 31 March Unleashing the potential of cities to shape Africa’s sustainable future Find out more
• 5 April Water sustainability and clean oceans – Cairo, Egypt Find out more
• 06 April Circular Economy and Africa´s Green and Sustainable Future – Helsinki, Finland Find out more
• 8 April Africa's Green Future - Copenhagen, Denmark Find out more
• 9 April Challenges of energy transition – São Tomé e Príncipe Find out more
• 12 April Une nouvelle dynamique dans la transition énergétique en Algérie – Algiers, Algeria Find out more
• 12 April A greener Angola: Opportunities and Challenges of a green transition – Luanda, Angola Find out more
• 13 April Transition verte dans l’UE et en Afrique - financement et action entrepreneuriale – Paris, France Find out more
• 13 April Can Green Megawatts do the Trick? – Abuja, Nigeria Find out more
• 13 April Sustainable and inclusive manufacturing – Pretoria, South Africa Find out more
• 14 April Women’s leadership for climate action: unlocking the power of cross-continental collaboration – Africa Europe Foundation, online Find out more

• 14 April EU-AU Partnership in Action: implementing Africa’s Blue Economy Strategy – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Find out more
• 14 April Water in the development of a circular economy – Tunis, Tunisia Find out more
• Speakers
• 14 April  Private Equity and Capital for Sustainable Development Goals – Nairobi, Kenya Find out more
• 14 April  Water and Green Economy: Developing Sustainable and Efficient Services – Maputo, Mozambique Find out more
• 14 April  Water security and Climate Resilient Development – Budapest, Hungary Find out more
• 15 April Electric Mobility in Cape Verde, a reference in Africa towards a sustainable future – Cidade da Praia, Cape Verde Find out more
• 15 April The Green transition and EU-Africa Relations – Berlin, Germany
• Speakers
• Find out more
• 15 April Social housing and Energy Efficiency – Rabat, Morocco Find out more
• 16 April Accelerating the EU-Africa Partnership for Green Energy Transition in Africa – Online

EU-Africa Partnership for Green Energy Transition in Africa

16 April 2021. EU Africa Business Forum: High Level Green Talk on Accelerating the EU-Africa Partnership for Green Energy Transition in Africa.

The High-Level Green Talk is embedded in the series of the Green Talks organised by the Portuguese Presidency of the European Council. It consisted of a roundtable discussion between high-level representatives from the EU and AU Commissions, ministerial level representatives from Africa and the EU Member States, as well as EU and African Business representatives and CEOs.

• Mr Frans Timmermans, European Commission Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, European Commission 
• Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, African Union Commission 

Achieving greater private sector participation for a faster sustainable energy transformation in Africa. Roundtable

• chaired and moderated by Kandeh Yumkella, former United Nations Under Secretary-General and co-chair of the Strategy Group on Energy (AEF) 
• Mr Francesco La Camera, Director General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) - 
• Mr Koen Doens, Director General for International Partnership, European Commission 
• Mr. Atef Marzourk, Acting Director for Infrastructure and Energy, African Union Commission - 
• Hon. Tarik Hamane, Executive Director and Head of Development, Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) 
• Mr Ambroyse Fayolle, Vice-President, European Investment Bank 
• Mr. Kevin Kanina Kariuki, Vice-President, Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, African Development Bank 
• Mr Salvatore Bernabei, CEO of Enel Green Power and Head of Global Power Generation and Head of Africa, Asia and Oceania of ENEL Group 
• Dr Linda Davis, CEO, Giraffe Bioenergy - Dr. Hela Cheikhrouhou, CEO Nithio Holdings 
• Mr David Lecoque, CEO Alliance for Rural Electrification

Virtual Marketplace 

21-22 April 2021. A two day virtual Marketplace on green energy transition was organised on 20th and 21st April. organised by the EU-Africa Business Forum (EABF) 

The vision of the future EU-Africa relations is outlined in the EU proposal “Towards a Comprehensive Strategy with Africa" calls for working together on five key global trends with a partnership for Green Transition and Energy Access being one of them. Under this new partnership framework, the EU intends to support Africa’s economic development to maximise the benefit of the green transition in full compliance with the Paris Agreement. 

This digitalmarketplace created a venue for African and European companies, institutions and business organisations involved and/or interested in green energy to meet, network exchange and share ideas, technology and encourage the building of potential partnership and match-making deals in the green energy sector. 

The platform showcased Green energy projects as well for networking through Business to Business (B2B) or Business to Government (B2G) or Government to Government (G2G) meetings. The marketplace brought together participants and exhibitors from the following categories