BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 28. Africa's energy potential is 50 times bigger than the world's energy demand for 2040, William Ruto, President of Kenya, said, addressing the 9th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, Trend reports.
"The untapped solar and wind potential is rated as "super abundant" in most African countries, meaning the potential is over 1,000 times the current demand. By contrast, all of Europe is classified as either replete or stretched with renewable energy potential less than ten times the current demand, indicating they will not be able to meet a massive growth in energy demand with domestically generated supply," he said.
According to Ruto, moreover, 30 to 40 percent of the world's minerals lie in Africa, including those on which the green energy transition depends, and plentiful relevant natural resources and assets.
"Africa needs the right type of amount of investment capital to become the green industrial power-house of the world. Renewable energy investment and associated infrastructure is almost all up front capex, with the right level of investment, Africa can provide energy success for all by 2030 while reducing total emissions related to energy generation by approximately 80 percent," he added.
The President pointed out that the world needs to reach Net Zero, sooner than was anticipated in the Paris Agreement, that is by 2040, instead of 2050.
"We are the continent least responsible but most vulnerable to climate change and its impacts. We are the continent with the least energy access with over 600 million Africans still without access to energy. We are not only having to provide secure energy access in clean and renewable ways, we need to do this while managing economic dependencies addressing debts completely shifting our development model to finally prioritize the true flourishing and wellbeing of our people," he said.