On 24 September 2024 Brussels Energy Club Principle Representative, Dr Marat Terterov, contributed to an expert meeting on ‘Getting the Crux of Financing Infrastructure in Africa’, hosted by the Centre for Global Development and the Bruegel think tank in Brussels.
The meeting was live-streamed and can be viewed on YouTube. BREC’s contribution to the workshop starts at the 55th minute of the recording.
Our main message, or concern raised with the group participants, was that despite the clear policy preference from many African governments in favour of investments into sustainable energy projects, many large-scale infrastructure projects currently on the table across the continent continue to relate to fossil fuels.
Our concern was that due to the large-scale nature of such investments (into energy infrastructure, ports for the export of critical raw materials, oil refinery modernisation projects, etc), Africa might increasingly find itself locked into fossil fuel-driven development rather than joining the international journey towards sustainability.
Comments raised by BREC generated some healthy debate amongst the experts on the panel. Some respondents suggested that Africa’s contribution to global emissions is tiny, compared to more developed countries in the Euro-Atlantic space, or fast-growing Asian behemoth economies.
African economies are growing rapidly, however, and investments into fossil energy will likely complement a spate of renewable energy investment projects across the continent for years to come.
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