But Continent
Still Lagging Far Behind Asia and Latin
America
Green Electricity Conference to be Held
in Nairobi, 23-24 November
Nairobi, 17 November
2009 - A rising number of green energy and
climate-friendly projects are up and running
or being planned across Africa new figures
show.
The projects, from renewable
energies to tree planting, are emerging
as part of the Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol-the United Nation's
emission reduction treaty.
Latest figures compiled
by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) indicate
that a total of 112 CDM Africa projects
are at 'validation, requesting registration
or registered" worth a total of Euros
212 million a year.
This is up from 78 projects
in 2008 and just two in 2004. Kenya's total
is 14, rising from five in 2008 and zero
in 2004.
While the figures are
cause for optimism, they also underline
how few projects are currently flowing into
Africa when compared with several other
parts of the world.
Globally there are over
4,730 CDM projects operating or close to
approval. The lion's share is in Asia Pacific
with a total of just over 3,700 projects
followed by Latin America and the Caribbean
with close to 820.
The news comes as the
Kenya government, AFD-the French development
agency and UNEP announced the Green Electricity
Conference to take place in Nairobi on the
23 and 24 of November.
Experts say the new
figures underline the importance of Africa's
governments pressing for reform of the CDM
in the days and weeks before the crucial
UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen.
They also underscore
the need for governments to support smart
market mechanisms in order to manage some
of the special kinds of risk that might
be holding back such projects in Africa.
Late last month, governments,
investors and experts met in South Africa
under UNEP's Finance Initiative to specifically
assess ways of boosting green energy uptake
on the Continent.
Several recommendations,
based on partnerships between the public
and private sectors, were made including:-
Country risk cover -
Insurance against country risk - i.e. risk
of expropriation, breach of contract, war
and civil disturbance - should be expanded
and explicitly provided to support low carbon
funds.
Low-carbon policy risk
cover - Insurance should be provided where
countries renege on policy frameworks /
incentive schemes that are underpinning
low-carbon investments, e.g. emissions trading,
renewable energy support mechanisms.
Funds to hedge currency
risk - Public finance could provide currency
funds which offer cost-effective hedges
for local currencies which would otherwise
not be available in the commercial foreign
exchange markets.
Improving deal flow
- In order to provide a series of easily
executable, commercially attractive projects,
vehicles specializing in early-stage low
carbon projects could be developed, and
technical assistance could be provided to
increase demand.
Public sector taking
subordinated equity positions in funds -
the public sector could invest directly
in low carbon funds via "first loss
equity", thereby improving the overall
risk-return profile of such vehicles.
Africa CDM Data in Detail
Today's CDM up date
has been compiled by experts at the UNEP
Risoe centre in Denmark.
CDM projects offer a
way of developed countries reducing emissions
and meeting global warming commitments by
investing in carbon reduction projects in
developing countries.
A total of 23 countries
in Africa are now participating in the CDM
Just over 20 per cent
of the projects are in North Africa with
Egypt having the most (13 projects or 12
per cent of the Africa total), followed
by Morocco with ten.
Just under 80 per cent
are in sub-Saharan Africa with South Africa
having 28 projects in the pipeline or up
and running followed by Kenya with 14; Uganda,
10 per cent and Nigeria, six per cent.
Generating electricity
from landfills using the waste methane gas
tops the list with 20 projects representing
18 per cent of the total Continent-wide.
There are eight wind
power; three solar and two geothermal projects
representing 12 per cent of all Africa CDM
projects.
Reforestation projects
number 17 representing 15 per cent of projects.
By 2012, a total of
260 Africa CDM projects could be operating
or under approval
Assuming a price of
10 Euros per ton of C02, this could worth
to Africa Euro 500 million a year by 2012.
Some of the new projects
that have been submitted for approval include
a 6.6 MW 'run of river' hydro project in
western Uganda and a rural electrification
one using photovoltaic solar power in Tunisia.
Others include a landfill
gas project in Mauritius and a 25MW energy
efficiency project at a sugar mill in Senegal.
The CDM up date for
Africa also underlines some other positive
developments. Experts claim that one of
the reasons why some of the larger developing
economies have secured more CDM investment
is that they can offer bigger projects representing
larger emission reductions for developed
economies.
One solution is known
as the programmatic CDM whereby many smaller
projects are bundled into one large project.
Over the past 12 months
several programmatic ones involving Africa
have been submitted to the CDM board for
approval.
These include two large
solar water heating projects in South Africa;
the promotion of energy efficient light
bulbs in rural Senegal and a municipal waste
composting project in Uganda.
An estimated one third
of programmatic CDM projects involved the
Continent.
Notes to Editors:
The Green Electricity
Conference Green Electricity Conference:
Powering Kenya into
a Green Energy Future, will take place at
the Nairobi Hilton Hotel between 23-24 November
2009
UNEP Risoe CDM Pipeline www.cdmpipeline.org
