On the occasion of the 6th EU-African Union Summit to be held in February, the Africa-Europe Foundation, a network of African and European political leaders and civil society personalities, has already organised virtual meetings in advance. One of the topics discussed has been the great energy inequality between the two continents.
The African continent, despite representing in 2019 around 17% of the world’s population, consumed only 3.4% of global energy. This is even more alarming when compared to Europe, a continent which, although it has 5.6% of the global population, consumed 10.4% of the total energy that year. Moreover, it is estimated that almost 600 million Africans do not have access to electricity.
Against this backdrop, a common statement from the audience was: “We will not achieve the global energy transition goals unless the energy access goals are met first”.
Further information in this piece from ’El País’.