New York — UN Under-Secretary-General and ECA Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe, will on 17 July 2019 chair a meeting in New York on "Accelerating clean energy investment in Africa". The meeting will be held on the margins of the High-Level Political Forum for sustainable development.
The event will bring together African ministers of Finance and Energy, renewable energy project developers, pan-African financial institutions and other key stakeholders to explore innovative approaches to accelerate and increase long-term clean energy investments and identify projects for impactful investment in Africa.
Participants will discuss, among other topics, the SDG7 Bond initiative, a concept developed by ECA in partnership withthe UN Secretary-General's Sustainability Council and financial institutions with the aim of crowding in financing for over 10 GW of renewable electricity capacity in Africa over the next five years.
The SDG7 Bond initiative aims to build joint cooperation between pan-African financial institutions and global financial institutions, with the resulting bonds being issued in international capital markets and their proceeds used to extend credit to companies investing in Africa's clean energy sector.
According to ECA's 2019 Economic Report on Africa, African governments are currently providing only a fraction of the investments needed for the continent to equip itself with enough energy resources to meet its needs and the goals set by Agendas 2030 and 2063. Private sector investments have been unable to fill the resulting gap so far.
Communication Team
Economic Commission for Africa
Office for North Africa
Tel: +212 (0) 537 548 749
