Former State president Joyce Banda on Monday led campaigners in calling for urgent and massive investments in the renewable energy sector, saying this is key to meeting energy access goals.
Banda, who is popularly known as JB, said this is especially important as millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa remain unconnected to national electricity grids, even as the world enters the last five years of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
She made the appeal during the launch of a campaign dubbed ‘Six30’ in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“The world must realise that the absence of modern energy services perpetuates poverty, limits economic opportunities, affects overall well-being of communities and heightens climate change vulnerability, especially among women and young girls,” Banda said.
Around 630 million people in the region lack electricity, and almost a billion still use solid biomass for cooking and heating, making sub- Saharan Africa the most energy-impoverished part of the world.
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“Multiple factors account for the low access to sustainable energy services, but all are linked to, or exacerbated by, a lack of substantial and adequate financing. Despite [having] one of the highest potentials for renewable energy, the region receives only 2 percent of global investments,” she said.
The Six30 Campaign is an ambitious initiative meant to spur public and private donors in and out of Africa to substantially increase funding and investments for renewable energy projects across the continent.
Driven by the African Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access, Pan- African Climate Justice Alliance and other partners, the campaign will run from 2024 to 2030, coinciding with the end of the SDGs.
The goal is to spur investments upwards of $630 billion and bring electricity to 630 million people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, in line with SDGs.
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On his part, African Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access Executive Director Augustine Njmamnshi said bridging the energy gap in sub-Saharan Africa is key to promoting broader socio-economic development and tackling climate change.
