Leaders of African countries have called for more investments in renewable energy to achieve green energy transition with the adoption of the Nairobi declaration.
They made the call at a three-day Africa Climate Summit, which wrapped up on Wednesday, in Nairobi, Kenyan.
Ministers participating in the summit are exploring the production of green hydrogen to tackle the shortage of energy.
They called for more investments in renewable energy to achieve green energy transition.
Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, the Minister in South Africa’s presidency responsible for electricity, said Africa can leverage its vast renewable energy resources, technology and skilled manpower to produce green hydrogen for domestic consumption and export.
“By exploiting their untapped green hydrogen potential, African countries will decarbonise their economies and create jobs,” Ramokgopa said.
He added that enactment of friendly regulations and policies was key to attracting investments in continent’s nascent green hydrogen industry.
Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance (AGHA)’s statistics indicated that green hydrogen demand on Africa could reach 18 metric tons by 2050.
AGHA is a body of industry lobby member-countries, comprising Egypt, Kenya, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia and South Africa.
Additionally, AGHA said Africa could export 20 to 40 metric tons of green hydrogen and its derivatives by 2050.
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This is possible, once the continent invests in low-cost production and transportation systems.
Africa has the potential to produce green hydrogen worth over $1 trillion annually by 2035. In turn, this would create 3.7 million jobs, according to a recent study conducted by three bodies.
These are the European Investment Bank, the International Solar Alliance and the African Union.
Abdessalam Ould Mohamed Salah, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Mauritania, said green hydrogen would speed up realisation of net-zero targets in Africa.
He added that it will also lower the cost of manufacturing.
Alex Wachira, Principal Secretary at Kenya’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, noted that African countries that have developed ambitious green hydrogen development roadmaps have attracted capital from institutional investors.
Wachira said this would enable such countries to produce carbon-free gas in bulk.
“The launch of green hydrogen roadmap for Kenya at the summit reaffirmed the country’s commitment to becoming a hub for producing and exporting clean gas,” he noted. (Xinhua)
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