PRESIDENT Hage Geingob believes it is Africa's time to be one of the global leaders in the energy market.
Geingob was speaking on Monday at a side event ahead of the United States-Africa Leaders' Summit. The session focused on the Carnegie endowment for international peace, which was themed as advancing synergies between the United States and African countries in just energy transitions.
"Africa has the potential to become a key player in the global energy market and we should seize the opportunity by doing the right things and at the right time. Yes, the time is right to do the right things," Geingob said.
His statement comes as the African Development Bank indicates that 645 million Africans have no access to electricity, while 700 million have no access to clean cooking energy.
The bank further says many people use biomass for cooking and 600 000 people die from the resultant indoor pollution.
Per capita electricity consumption in Africa averages 181 kilowatt-hours (kWh) compared with 13 000 kWh in the United States.
He said Africa emits the least carbon dioxide but pays the highest price.
"[It] is regrettably disproportionately affected by climate and the long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.
"As a consequence, Namibia for example has experienced severe droughts in the past five years, of which one was recorded to have been the worst in a century," he said.
Geingob called for Western countries to up their climate financing.
"We are urging for the scaling up of the levels of climate finance, through providing concrete long term-targets for climate finance pathways and accounting methodologies for the collective goal by developed countries to reach US$100 billion a year from 2025 and beyond," Geingob said.
