The African Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) hosted a two-day meeting in Paris last week, with a focus on how the private sector can help boost renewable energy investments in Africa.

The EU co-funded this meeting, moved by the need to leverage private sector investments in sustainable energy, especially in Africa. This is a key priority for the EU’s climate action and the Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs.

AREI, launched in 2015, originally had two key aims: to achieve at least 10 GW of new and additional renewable energy generation capacity by 2020, and at least 300 GW by 2030. To support these aims, ten international partners – the EU, the G7 countries, the Netherlands and Sweden – together committed to mobilise at least $10 billion from 2015 to 2020. The EU allocation of €1.5 billion, mostly under the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD) and the EU Electrification Financing Initiative (ElectriFI initiative), aimed to support new investments, adding at least 5 GW of renewable energy generation capacity by 2020.

AREI is already exceeding expectations. The 10th AREI Board meeting, held in the margins of the Climate Summit in New York in September 2019, announced that the 10 GW objective had been reached, over a year ahead of schedule. This encouraging result has come about thanks to the adoption of 200 projects, 78 of which are financed or co-financed by the EU, to the tune of €1.1 billion.

This week’s meeting built on AREI’s impressive results so far and move it closer to its ambitious aim of establishing 300GW of additional renewable energy generation capacity in Africa by 2030.

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Press release