AU-EU Partnership to Promote Sustainable Energy Transitions

This policy brief argues for a strategic AU-EU partnership to facilitate sustainable energy transitions, emphasizing that such cooperation can provide Africa with increased energy access and jobs while helping the EU meet its carbon neutrality goals. It highlights the need for diplomatic sensitivity, tailored incentives, and a focus on 'just transitions' to ensure that fossil-fuel-dependent African nations are not unfairly penalized by European climate standards.

• African and European stakeholders should collaborate to create a joint vision for sustainability transformation, utilizing science cooperation and knowledge-sharing platforms to address challenges such as ensuring a just transition.
• The EU should mobilize large-scale investments in Africa's green infrastructure, specifically suggesting the use of blended finance to support this expansion.
• To ensure local buy-in, the transition should emphasize economic benefits and job creation, including education and training to prepare young Africans for high-skilled roles in the renewable energy sector.
• Clean energy trade between the EU and Africa can be facilitated through direct grid connections and Power-to-X technologies, such as the production of green hydrogen.
• Africa faces a critical energy gap, with approximately 600 million people lacking electricity access and 900 million lacking clean cooking access, representing the lowest coverage globally.
• The transition is particularly complex for fossil-fuel-dependent African nations; for example, South Africa and Botswana rely on coal for over 90% of electricity production, while Algeria, Angola, and Nigeria derive about 95% of total export revenues from fossil fuels.
• The EU's European Green Deal may create market barriers for African products through stricter carbon standards and potential carbon border taxes, which may be viewed as illegitimate given Africa's insignificant contribution to cumulative global CO2 emissions.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2020). AU-EU Partnership to Promote Sustainable Energy Transitions. https://saiia.org.za/research/au-eu-partnership-to-promote-sustainable-energy-transitions/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. AU-EU Partnership to Promote Sustainable Energy Transitions. 2020. https://saiia.org.za/research/au-eu-partnership-to-promote-sustainable-energy-transitions/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=AU-EU Partnership to Promote Sustainable Energy Transitions |date=25 September 2020 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/au-eu-partnership-to-promote-sustainable-energy-transitions/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2020aueu, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{AU-EU Partnership to Promote Sustainable Energy Transitions}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/au-eu-partnership-to-promote-sustainable-energy-transitions/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }