- Kenya’s president William Ruto said Africa could become Europe’s most important partner for the development of the energy transition.
- International partnerships “at eye level” are needed, meaning everyone should profit, especially the countries where the resources come from.
In his opening speech at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD), Kenya’s president William Ruto said Africa could become Europe’s most important partner for the development of the energy transition, provided the right kinds of investments are made at a sufficient scale. He said, “With the right level of investment, Africa can provide energy access for all by 2030 while reducing total emissions related to energy generation by approximately 80 percent.”
At the conference hosted by the German government, Ruto pointed out that Africa is home to 30 to 40 per cent of the world’s raw materials needed for the energy transition. Kenya’s president said the planned EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) should encourage low-emissions production from the continent. He added that the bloc could enhance innovative financing by using more high-quality African carbon credits in EU emission trading markets, which offer core benefits such as increased biodiversity and improved livelihoods.
Ruto called for cooperation in supporting the places doing “the difficult work of protecting nature” by making finance more readily available, accessible and affordable while increasing debt limits.
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said the country is trying to diversify its import partners and reduce dependencies, especially in the energy and raw materials sectors. “We can’t repeat the same mistakes we committed in the past.” This refers to Germany’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels, which forced the country to re-evaluate its dependencies on raw materials and supply chains. Baerbock said, “we can’t do magic on European soil,” Thus, international partnerships “at eye level” are needed, meaning that everyone should profit, especially the countries where the resources come from.