‘$7.5bn investment needed for modern fuels in Africa’

Africa needs $7.5 billion investment to move the continent away from cooking with firewood and charcoal to clean stoves, the African Refiner and Distributor Association (ARDA) has said.

ARDA, which gathered energy and environment stakeholders together at a virtual sustainable financing workshop yesterday, noted that the $7.5bn investment, inclusive of debt, equity and grants, would be required from this year to 2030 to build clean cooking stoves and downstream infrastructure that would support the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The association had earlier disclosed that African refineries would need about $15.7bn (+/-50 per cent) to upgrade their facilities to produce cleaner fuels.

Executive Secretary of ARDA, Anibor Kragha, stated during the workshop that with the growing pressure against fossil fuels, African countries must deploy measures to secure the needed financing to develop and add value to our hydrocarbon resources.

These actions, he added, are fundamental for the continent’s industrial development and overall energy security.

Last month, International Energy Agency insisted that achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 would require complete transformation of the global energy system and called for a total halt of investments for upstream oil development.

Against this backdrop, Kragha recommended that the continent develop a Sustainable Finance Plan for Africa that will be used to execute a unique, robust African Energy Transition Plan.