OREANDA-NEWS. The Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Africa Hub launched on Tuesday, October 13 in Abidjan its Annual Report for 2014-2015, which outlines the progress made to date in helping the 44 partner countries create strategic frameworks necessary to mobilize investment for realizing their long-term energy goals aligned with the SE4All initiative objectives: ensure universal access to modern energy services, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and double the share of renewable energy in the global mix by 2030, enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 adopted end of September in New York.

Launched in 2013, the SE4All Africa Hub is a partnership between the African Development Bank, African Union Commission, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordination Agency, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and rotating regional economic communities dedicated to supporting the continent’s progress towards the SE4All objectives. The Hub is hosted by AfDB’s Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department.

The Hub provides guidance to African Governments and energy stakeholders, delivers technical assistance, fosters networking and communication, and contributes towards finance mobilization. A model of African leadership, the Hub has been at the forefront of SE4All’s implementation, contributed to the shaping of the initiative globally, and set a standard for others to follow. AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina in the foreword to the report highlights that “the SE4All Africa Hub plays an important role in forging the transformative partnerships needed to make access to energy for all a reality.” The Hub has also been tasked to play a lead role in the coordination of the implementation of the G20 Action Plan on Energy Access in Sub-Saharan Africa adopted by G20 Energy Ministers on October 2, 2015 in Istanbul in collaboration with the SE4All partnership.

Speaking about the report, SE4All Africa Hub Coordinator Daniel-Alexander Schroth said, “The last year was a successful year with the Hub being able to assist many African countries in laying the fundamental ground for mobilizing investments, yet this is only a first step, as the focus now has to shift decisively towards implementation.” 

Over the past year, the Hub has been providing direct technical assistance in response to Government requests, to more than 10 African countries supported in most cases through the Pilot African Climate Technology and Finance Centre and Network. In addition, the Hub has supported the establishment of the West African Energy Leaders Group, which was launched successfully at the end of June 2015 in Abidjan. It also started the implementation of the Green Mini-Grid Market Development Program in cooperation with the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) to scale-up the adoption of mini-grids as an important part of the solution to enhancing energy access in rural areas.

Moving ahead, the SE4All Africa Hub will focus on mobilizing support towards the implementation of the action agendas and investment prospectuses and the strengthening of SE4All focal points, communication and networking.

About SE4All: Launched in 2011, the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Initiative aims to ensure universal access to modern energy services, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and double the share of renewable energy in the global mix by 2030. The SE4All Action Agenda is a country-level umbrella framework for energy sector development with a long-term vision, ensuring overall sector-wide coherence and synergy of the accumulated efforts towards the three goals.