Durban: The Africa Energy Efficiency Facility (AfEEF), a legacy project of South Africa’s G20 presidency, is set to mobilise $3 billion over the coming years to address significant energy inefficiencies across Africa.

According to South African Government News Agency, Deputy Minister for Electricity and Energy, Samantha Graham-Mar©, highlighted the critical energy inefficiencies plaguing the continent, with some regions experiencing inefficiencies of up to 60%. This situation leaves millions without access to electricity and deprives others of clean cooking solutions.

Graham-Mar© described the AfEEF as a comprehensive response to these urgent needs. The facility is designed to serve as a continental platform with goals that include mobilising finance at scale, targeting $3 billion by 2030, supporting member states in harmonising energy efficiency policies and regulations, building technical capacity, and promoting digitalisation and innovation through systems like energy management and appliance databases.

The Deputy Minister underscored the facility’s potential to improve efficiency by at least 12% by 2030, create approximately 1 million ‘green’ jobs by 2040, avoid the need for up to 40 gigawatts of new generation capacity, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 300 million tonnes of CO2.

The AfEEF is a collaborative initiative involving the South African government, the African Union Commission through the African Energy Commission (AFREC), and the United Nations Environment Programme. The initiative aligns with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the African Energy Efficiency Strategy, directly addressing UN Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13 on energy access and climate action.

Graham-Mar© emphasized the importance of partnerships in sustaining the facility, calling upon AU member states, development partners, financial institutions, private sector actors, civil society, and academia to support and integrate the AfEEF’s objectives into national strategies.

She stressed that energy efficiency is not merely a technical choice, but a human imperative, highlighting the impact on health, education, and industry productivity. The AfEEF is presented as a promise to improve lives across Africa by enhancing energy productivity.