Some western countries have announced significant contributions to the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) at the end of January, supporting the Mission 300 initiative to expand energy access across the continent, APA has learned.
Denmark, the United Kingdom, Spain and France have announced new contributions to the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), a fund managed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to promote access to sustainable energy across the continent.
These announcements, made at the African Energy Summit held on January 27 and 28, 2025 in the Tanzanian capital, demonstrated these countries’ strengthened support for the Mission 300 partnership, which aims to provide electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030.
SEFA, a multi-donor special fund, provides catalytic financing to encourage private investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency. It aims to enable universal access to reliable, sustainable and modern energy services in Africa, in line with the “New Deal” for Energy in Africa and Mission 300.
Japan also joined SEFA in December 2024, contributing five million dollars to support the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA).
France, a new SEFA donor, has pledged a contribution of 10 million euros, while Denmark, the United Kingdom and Spain have respectively increased their contributions to 100 million Danish kroner (13.4 million euros), 8.5 million pounds sterling (10.13 million euros) and 3 million euros, according to a statement from the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The new funding comes after a record year for SEFA in 2024, with 14 projects approved for a total of 108 million dollars, bringing its portfolio to be over 300 million dollars in investments.
These initiatives are expected to generate up to 15 billion dollars in investments and provide approximately 12 million new electricity connections in Africa.
ODL/te/lb/gik/APA