African leaders from 11 countries presented a bloc position on what a fair, clean energy transition would look like on the continent in the lead-up to the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference set for November in Egypt.
“We believe that as a bloc we are stronger,” said Patricie Uwase, minister of state in Rwanda’s Ministry of Infrastructure, during the Sustainable Energy for All Forum when discussing the outcomes of private ministerial roundtables that occurred this week.
Within that discussion, there was an emphasis on the need for a “just” transition, she said, where the burden of nations working to meet Paris Agreement targets doesn’t conflict too heavily with other development goals that African countries want to achieve but are dependent on energy consumption. The continent’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is negligible. Around the world, 759 million people live without access to electricity and most of them are in sub-Saharan Africa.