Creating a mutually beneficial partnership for Africa-Europe: Building a greener and fairer future

Europe and Africa need to learn the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic to bounce back with a vibrant and sustainable economic relaunch that can unleash the potential of green transition and inclusive digitalisation, speakers at the latest ‘Debating Africa-EU’ online event agreed on Thursday.

“The post-pandemic recovery process presents an opportunity for the green transition, for countries to build back better and to invest in a more environmentally friendly, sustainable and resilient economy,” (13:51) said Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture.

To achieve that, both public and private investment must be mobilised, and government and multilateral institutions on both sides of the Mediterranean need to work-hand-in hand to define priorities and free up financing for projects that really make a difference. “It is an opportunity for us, and Europe, working together to rethink and reimagine the way we are doing our work,” (23:29) added Amani Abou-Zeid, AU Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy, ICT and Tourism. She stressed the importance of investment that improves Africans’ access to energy; develops renewable energy for rural communities, health, education and transport; and advances digitalisation.

The key role of digitalisation in boosting the post-COVID economic recovery and the green transition was emphasised by several speakers. “Doing things digitally saves a lot of time and money for companies and for private persons, so this is one of the pillars around which we should build our recovery plans. Another one is green transition,” (37:12) said Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy. She said a joint AU-EU initiative to pursue green growth and sustainable development would be a “game changer” in relations between the two continents.

However, several participants raised questions about the difficulty of accessing financing for green transition projects in Africa. Raising money for renewable energy could be as painful as giving birth, said Damilola Ogunbiyi, Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. “Climate financing is very, very hard to target. If we still are working in a global economy where it’s easier to get financing for fossil than green, we are just losing out,” (44:52) Ogunbiyi told the debate. She also highlighted the problems of access to energy and fuel for clean cooking across Africa.

The ‘Debating Africa-EU’ series gives civil society an opportunity to interact with policymakers and influence the agenda in the run up to the AU-EU summit scheduled for the end of 2020. Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships, expressed hope that the EU would soon approve its Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the next seven years, clearing the way for the Commission to ‘immediately start’ programming for development cooperation funding. “There will be some policy priorities, but I can assure you that one of them will be the green deal and green transition, and of course the other one will be digitalisation,” (1:05:15) she said. However, she too stressed the importance of also mobilising private investment. “The role of the private sector is also crucial because the needs are so huge, we are not able to solve them only through public funding,” (1:06:05) Urpilainen added.