Taking the Next Step

"Africa and EU are tackling energy challenges together"

African and European Ministers, Commissioners, business leaders and more than 400 other high-
level delegates will define the priorities for the energy collaboration between the two continents
at the Second High Level Meeting of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership, coming together 12-13 February 2014 at the AUC Headquarters in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.

Media Release: Access to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy in a world of dwindling resources is one of the core challenges for the 21st century. Energy powers economic development to provide a livelihood for millions. Energy is needed to pump, clean and desalinate water, to produce fertilizer and grow food, to maintain and improve a modern infrastructure not only for transport, but also for sharing knowledge and educate the coming generations. It is a prerequisite for modern schools and universities, for communal services and health centres, for productive uses (for instance food cooling and healthy cooking facilities) – and for political participation through modern communication and information technology.

How vulnerable are our societies and economies when energy prices rise or energy supplies are interrupted? Can we curtail and in future avoid wars over energy? Can we change our energy use to
reduce the environmental impact on our planet and counteract climate change?

In order to strengthen the Africa-EU strategic dialogue on access to energy and energy security and
to link energy policies on both continents, the African-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) was launched in 2007 by African and European Ministers.

Three years ago, Energy ministers of the EU and Africa set ambitious targets to be reached by 2020:
to bring access to modern and sustainable energy services to at least an additional 100 million Africans, to double the capacity of cross-border electricity interconnections, thus increasing trade in
electricity while ensuring adequate levels of generation capacity; to double the use of natural gas in
Africa, as well as double African gas exports to Europe, by building natural gas infrastructure, notably to bring currently flared gas to market, and finally to increase both energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy in Africa.

This includes building 10,000MW of new hydropower facilities, at least 5,000MW of wind power capacity; 500MW of all forms of solar energy capacity; tripling the capacity of other renewables, such as geothermal and modern biomass; and improving energy efficiency in

Africa in all sectors, starting with the electricity sector, in support of Africa's continental, regional and sectoral targets.