Over
100 international civil society groups have launched a statement in
solidarity with their African counterparts who are concerned
about the role of France and the European Commission in undermining
the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative.
The
statement asserts that France and the European Commission abused their position
as donors to rush through the endorsement of 19 projects which were not subject
to the initiative's own evaluation criteria or social, environmental, and
gender safeguards - against the wishes of several Africans on the AREI Board.
Neither France nor the European Commission is formally a Board Member.
France
and other developed country donors have pledged to provide funds to support
"new and additional" renewable energy capacity, but African and
international civil society groups say these promises are being broken as some
already existing projects are being rebranded as AREI projects.
The
first director of the Initiative's "Independent Delivery Unit"
resigned in the aftermath of the Board Meeting, and on the sidelines of ongoing
climate change negotiations in Bonn, Ségolène Royal announced the nomination of
a new head, Mr. Seyni Nafo of Mali.
Many
in the civil society community are familiar with Mr. Nafo, have worked
productively with him in the past, and look forward to engaging with him in his
new role. They stress, however, that he must be set up for success by ensuring
the AREI does not become donor-driven, but instead sticks to its principles of
African ownership and transparent, inclusive governance.
"Decades
of experience with development and climate finance shows us that letting rich
countries make decisions for people living in developing countries is a
surefire path to failure. The AREI is an exciting and innovative initiative
exactly because it is African owned and African driven. France and the EU are
to be commended for contributing to the AREI, but only if their contributions
are actually new and additional money and come with no strings attached. By
trying to use their status as donors to push through pet projects and take
control away from Africans, they are doing far more harm than good. The AREI is
too important for us to allow rich countries to get their way at the expense of
African people once again," said Brandon Wu of ActionAid USA.
"Support
for renewable energy in Africa was a major commitment made at the Paris Climate
Summit, but now it seems that some in the French government and European
Commission think this makes it OK to support projects without assessment
against stringent social and environmental criteria. European governments need
to ensure space for African leadership on renewable energy," said of Susann
Scherbarth of Friends of the Earth Europe.
"Donor
countries cannot bypass the AREI's safeguards and screening process and simply
use it to rubberstamp their pre-existing projects. Doing so invalidates a
crucial goal of the Initiative-- to break free from old and outdated
development models, and instead give African people control of their future.
The AREI is meant to do much more than just generate renewable energy, it's
about making sure that the 630 million Africans that don't currently have
access to electricity are able to reap the benefits that clean, reliable energy
can provide. We urge the EC and others to help it succeed" said Annaka
Peterson of Oxfam International.
The
AREI was launched in 2015 in Paris during COP21 as an African-led initiative
with the goal of providing at least 10 GW of new renewable energy to Africa's
peoples by 2020, and put the continent on course to add at least another 300 GW
and achieve universal access to energy for all Africans by 2030.
It
was supported by $10 billion in pledges for 2015-2020 by developed countries in
Paris, and has been hailed as a groundbreaking effort to bring clean,
affordable, and reliable energy to millions of people in a democratic,
human-rights focused approach.
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