What Africa Needs to Go Green Is Finance
Lack of climate finance is creating a vicious circle that’s slowing the continent’s clean transition
The Ethiopian government wants to use geothermal power to bring electricity to millions of people.
Photographer: Amanuel Sileshi/BloombergFrom sunshine to rare minerals to a youthful population, Africa has the raw ingredients to make the green transition. Now it needs the finance.
Take power. Exceptionally strong sun and vast swathes of desert mean Africa is the region with the highest solar generation potential over the long term, according to calculations by the World Bank. It’s now cheaper to build and operate new large-scale wind and solar farms in many parts of the world than to keep running coal or gas-fired power plants. With more than half of people in Sub-Saharan Africa living without electricity, expanding solar should be a no-brainer.