The African Energy Leaders Group (AELG) is a community of energy leaders dedicated to promote a sustainable energy transition in Africa in support of the objectives of the SEforALL Initiative.

The AELG comprises high-level individuals from the public and private sector: Heads of State, CEOs of major corporations, representatives of African institutions. The AELG was launched in January 2015 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, spearheaded by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (SRSG) for SEforALL, Kandeh Yumkella.

Description

Access to sustainable energy is a key enabler for economic growth, health, education, and helps provide opportunities to all generations and populations. Sustainable energy lies at the heart of both the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as well as other policy programmes and initiatives. The 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) sets out to ensure “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”.

The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) is a transformative, Africa-owned and Africa-led inclusive effort to accelerate and scale up the harnessing of the continent’s huge renewable energy potential. Under the mandate of the African Union, and endorsed by African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), the Initiative is set to achieve at least 10 GW of new and additional renewable energy generation capacity by 2020, and mobilize the African potential to generate at least 300 GW by 2030.

In 2012, in their Declaration on the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa, African heads of state called for innovative solutions to accelerate infrastructure delivery. After broad consultations with African stakeholders, the African Development Bank established Africa50 as a new investment vehicle. It was designed as an independent infrastructure fund that focuses on high-impact national and regional projects, mostly in the energy and transport sectors, with a particular emphasis on increasing the pipeline of investment-ready projects.