Africa to benefit from over one million new electricity connections, but Ghana not included

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

A new report by the African Development Bank (AfDB), has indicated that several projects are underway in Africa to reduce nearly 7 million tonnes CO² and create more than one million new electricity connections in Africa, with AfDB and CIF support.

The African Development Bank’s “Financing Change: The AfDB  and CIF for a Climate-Smart Africa”, is the Bank’s second semi-annual report on its work to implement the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) in Africa, covering July-December 2012.

Although it would have been a big relief for Ghana if it had received mention in the report since it is currently experiencing massive power generation challenges, the country is not mentioned among countries benefitting from the AfDB and CIF investments in electricity generation.

However, the report showcases expected results from projects underway in Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger and South Africa backed by US $420 million CIF funding and US $1.1 billion of the AfDB’s own funding.

Through the eight projects under implementation, it is expected that 6.9 million tonnes of CO² emissions will be avoided every year, 1.3 million households and businesses will get new access to power, nearly 42,000 hectares of land will be newly dedicated to climate-resilient activities, and 150,000 farmers will gain access to climate information, including 50,000 women farmers and 3,000 villages.

A publication of the African Development Bank’s Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department (ONEC), the report features a review of the Bank’s support to 17 African countries through its CIF portfolio, which is channeling US $1 billion – more than a third of all CIF investment in Africa – to Africa, with the Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department leading the institutional charge.

AfDB’s report also highlights the work underway with the AfDB and other CIF partners and stakeholders to continue improving the CIF’s effectiveness – exploring new tools and mechanisms, enhancing and simplifying the approach to measuring results, and brokering climate knowledge from the national to the global stage.

Established in 2008 as one of the largest fast-tracked climate financing instruments in the world, the US $7.6 billion CIF provides developing countries with grants, concessional loans, risk mitigation instruments, and equity that leverage significant financing from the private sector, multilateral development banks, (MDBs) and other sources.

Five MDBs – the African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and World Bank Group (WBG),  implement CIF-funded projects and programmes.