Sustainable Energy For All (SEforALL) And Partners Launch The Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative
Sustainable Energy For All (SEforALL) And Partners Launch The Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative. At Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), the African Climate Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, ClimateWorks Foundation, and the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA) launched the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative (AREMI) to drive investment and mobilize action in African countries to scale up renewable energy manufacturing capabilities. With a remarkable 1.2 terawatts of energy potential, 14 million new jobs, and 6.4% growth in GDP in Africa available under a green transition scenario, this new international initiative will help drive the financial, technical, and socioeconomic investments required to advance clean energy development and transition in Africa.
Home to 60% of the world’s best solar resources, Africa has the potential to become a global green manufacturing hub with an expected growth in solar photovoltaics (PV) to 650 gigawatts by 2050. As African nations make progress on energy development and transition, it is increasingly critical to establish local supply chains and talent to ensure the socio-economic benefits of renewable energy and sustainable development accrue locally. AREMI will focus on capacity building, knowledge transfer, policy dialogues, and advocacy, as well as enabling pilot projects that drive low-emission development and carbon neutrality in Africa.
South-South cooperation is one of AREMI’s key strategic components, leveraging the timely and unique opportunity to ramp up energy capacity and production in Africa and shrink the energy access deficit through international partnerships. Global South countries are natural partners for Africa, given similar development needs and policy pathways, and many – such as China, India, and ASEAN countries – are already major green manufacturing players and investors, making them ideal partners for African countries. AREMI will bring together governments in Africa and the Global South, as well as key decision makers across the renewable energy industry, businesses, academia, and research institutions to champion renewable energy as a key anchor for both economic growth and sustainable development goals across the continent.
In conjunction with the launch of AREMI, SEforALL released a new report – Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing: Opportunity and Advancement – supported by the African Climate Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and ClimateWorks Foundation. The report analyzes Africa’s renewable energy manufacturing landscape, highlights pathways to accelerate a homegrown renewable energy industry, and provides a roadmap to help bridge the gaps and achieve a just, equitable, and green energy transition in Africa. Drawing on multiple sources, including an economic analysis from McKinsey & Company, SEforALL’s analysis identifies an initial first wave of eight countries – Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia – that have medium or high feasibility to localize solar or battery storage manufacturing capacities and build the tools and incentives to favorably increase investment opportunities. The report also outlines existing barriers to finance and identifies policy areas for countries to act on to attract foreign investment.
“Developing Africa’s green manufacturing capabilities is one of the key strategies to fostering growth, producing decent employment opportunities, and eradicating poverty while ensuring that Africa is not left behind in the global energy transition agenda,” said Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Energy of Ghana. “I therefore urge my fellow Ministers and stakeholders to come up with bold and implementable economic models and solutions that will enable the realization of Africa’s green manufacturing aspirations.”
“With some of the fastest growing economies, Africa has the potential to be a global energy leader and address the twin challenges of energy poverty and the climate crisis,” said Antha Williams, who leads environment programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “However, current clean energy investments in Africa are at an alarming low. Changing that requires new levels of collaboration to unlock the dollars needed to electrify and decarbonize Africa. The Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative will turbocharge new levels of cooperation to scale and boost green manufacturing capacity, create good jobs, and make renewable energy a key economic anchor in the continent and around the world.”
