Image: IRENA
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) have signed a Declaration of Intent to jointly support investment in low carbon energy projects.
The partnership will support various initiatives, including jointly organizing renewable energy investment forums – which form part of IRENA’s contribution to the Climate Investment Platform – collaborating with the AfDB’s Africa Investment Forum event, and enhancing the role of renewable energy across African countries.
“Driven by the aspiration to harness Africa’s huge renewable energy potential, the African Development Bank is today at the forefront of investing in renewable energy in Africa,” stated Kevin Kanina Kariuki, Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth at the AfDB.
The partnership also seeks to advance the AfDB’s Desert to Power Initiative, which will mobilize funds from private and public entities to install 10GW of solar power by 2025 in 11 countries in Africa.
“The Bank’s partnership with IRENA will advance this aspiration and support Africa’s energy transition and our goal to achieve universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy in Africa by 2030,” Kariuki added.
“This agreement represents the type of coordinated international cooperation that is the cornerstone of the realization of sustainable development in Africa and the achievement of Paris Agreement goals. We will pursue an action-oriented agenda that puts African countries on a path to realizing their full renewable energy potential,” said Francesco La Camera, Director General of IRENA.