The 14th AEEP Energy Talks are expected to start on May 8, 2024, and will focus on “Empowering Africa: Accelerating Energy Efficiency for Sustainable Development.” The online event highlights the crucial role of energy efficiency in meeting Africa’s energy needs, aligning with SDG7 and COP28’s Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency pledge. The Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) was launched by African and European Heads of State in 2007 at the AU-EU Summit in Lisbon, Portugal. Energy efficiency, termed the “first fuel,” is vital for saving energy, reducing demand, enhancing energy afforda ..read more

In the ongoing talks about energy efficiency rules, the House of Representatives is mulling over important laws that could affect both nationwide standards and local programs. One bill wants to limit how strict appliance efficiency rules can be, while another hopes to kickstart new energy-saving schemes in Ohio. These discussions happen as part of wider national efforts to tackle energy sustainability, which affect everyone from consumers to businesses and the environment. Inside the House, lawmakers are debating two important laws that could shape how we use energy across the country. Th ..read more

The ESCO business model has been saving consumers energy, money and carbon for decades, at the same time offering healthy returns for companies. The market is now worth $29 billion, mostly concentrated in China, the USA and Europe. It’s a simple idea – deploy energy saving solutions (mostly technology) and use the cashflow that is generated to pay back the capital expenditure (capex) and make some profit. Whilst developing countries, especially in Africa, have only recently opened up the market (watch out for our forthcoming mapping of African ESCOs in partnership with the Basel Agency fo ..read more

The potential of GSSS Bonds ? Never before has the world faced a more critical gap in funding core development challenges, as captured by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreements. The yearly SDG funding gap stands at USD3.7 trillion. The annual private philanthropic spending for development stands at USD8 billion while ODA at USD 150 billion1. With some USD 212 trillion the opportunity lies in the financial sector which offers a largely untapped potential to promote climate change mitigation and adaptation by directing investments toward low-carbon and ..read more

As a regional sustainable finance pioneer, Bank of Africa has been integrating sustainability for more than 15 years, and more recently tackling climate-related impacts, opportunities, and risks. Bank of Africa (BOA) is present in 32 countries, including 20 on the African continent, and more than 15 thousand employees representing across our Group, so the impact potential of our Group is immense. In Morocco, the banking sector is very active on climate action thanks to front-runners like BANK OF AFRICA, in close collaboration with the Moroccan Central Bank. Climate action is instilled acro ..read more

As technology continues to advance, obsolete technologies give way to next-generation technologies. The consumerism ideology coupled with humankind’s appetite for affluence and an overall attitude of entitlement has dwarfed our sense of frugality. Our dwindled sense of frugality has left in its trail a lot of obsolescence and waste that plague our fragile communities and the Earth. Developed countries, in view of their strict environmental laws, find it convenient to dump older technologies on developing countries. Dumping of environmentally harmful products is defined as “the practice of e ..read more

Africa is set to embark on an unprecedented expansion of energy demand driven by their growing populations, fast growing economies, and improved living standards in the next decade. As urbanization and climate change rapidlyincrease the need for cooling in Africa, a strong focus on efficient cooling solutions is crucial for tempering the growth of electricity demand while ensuring an appropriate level of energy services. Currently, only aroundoneinthirteen households owns an air conditionerin Africa. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), ownership of air conditioners in Afri ..read more

At the current pace, the planet will add 50% more warming to surpass the 1.5°C temperature threshold as early as 2030, making it more difficult for human and natural systems to adapt. Taking fast, ambitious action to reduce short lived climate pollutants (SLCPs)- methane, tropospheric ozone, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)—can cut the rate of global warming in half and Arctic warming by up to two-thirds. Aggressive cuts to SLCP emissions can avoid twice the warming that aggressive cuts to CO2 can by mid-century, and deliver multiple benefits for sustainable development and hum ..read more

All fifty-four African countries along with all other United Nations states have ratified the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol), which has already phased out chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants depleting ozone layer and will soon phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) such as R-22 and phase out ozone-friendly hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) greenhouse gas refrigerants such as R-410A under the Kigali Amendment. At the time of this writing, forty of the fifty-four African countries have already ratified the Amendment of Kigali. As expected, the Ki ..read more

In a regional dynamic, the Kingdom of Morocco aims to create an economic and industrial sector based on green hydrogen and its derivatives, to consolidate its energy transition while contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting the decarbonization of partner countries. Such an impetus is based in particular on the development of an exceptional potential in renewable energies as well as on the expertise that the Kingdom has gained over the last decade. [1]. Key milestones of Green Hydrogen and applications in Morocco The beginning of the exploration of the opportunitie ..read more