Africa Finance Forum: Climate Finance in Africa - Leveraging Public Sector investment

Corporate Council on Africa’s “Africa Finance Forum” series focused on climate finance in a session on October 13, 2022, held in Washington, D.C. The roundtable session, entitled ‘Climate Finance in Africa: Leveraging Public Sector Investment’ was moderated by Kalidou Gadio, a Partner at Curis, Mallet-Prevost, Cold & Mosle LLP and included nearly three dozen participants from the private sector, international financial institutions, and both African and U.S. government officials. In the course of the exchange various topics were addressed in an open and candid conversation focused on African government institutional approaches to seeking private sector investment in a just energy transition, private sector expectations and experiences investing in the African energy sector, expectations leading into COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh, and comparative analysis of risks and opportunities in light of current events. Among the provocative subjects on which attendees exchanged views was the potential for a global reassessment of greenhouse gas emission commitments in light of retrenchment by some countries faced with critical energy shortages as a result of Russia’s war on Ukraine given what one government attendee described as a fracturing “…of the global alignment on climate change goals” in the west, consideration of beneficiation to African countries committing to curtailment of petroleum reserve exploitation and ensuring local value-added processing, and the need for technological enhancements to capture and transport to market flare gasses from African petroleum fields. The conversation noted the need for greater harmonization of regulations in African countries to incentivize private sector investment, with general consensus that Africa will need to industrialize with a focus on local manufacturing and value-added beneficiation of goods to ensure economic opportunity and private-sector led growth and development.