Speaking at the Second Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), European Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera stressed the importance of the EU-Africa strategic partnership for climate action. Above all, she reiterated the need for Africa and the EU to “work together” in the forthcoming negotiations at COP30 in Brazil, in November.
“Africa is home to 60% of the world’s best solar resources, 30% of the critical minerals (...). Yet nearly 600 million people still lack electricity. Closing the gap is urgent and possible”, she insisted.
Ms Ribera’s visit was marked by the launch of two projects in the region aimed at accelerating the clean energy transition in Africa.
These two initiatives, part of the EU’s Global Gateway investment programme, will contribute to the ‘Scaling up Renewables in Africa’ engagement campaign, launched in November 2024 by European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, and South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa.
The first project - the Continental Energy Programme in Africa (CEPA) - is a €15 million initiative to promote cross-border market operations, the development of transmission networks, investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
The RISED Ethiopia project, for its part, is a programme designed to strengthen, modernise and green Ethiopia’s electricity network. Team Europe has already provided €133 million in funding for this project, and additional funding is currently under discussion. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)