The African Development Bank is hosting a full program of roundtables and events at the Africa Pavilion in Durban during CoP17. The complete agenda is online, below is a highlight of sessions on development effectiveness, climate finance, agriculture, and sustainable energy.

As the evidence and impact of climate change increase, so does the urgency to develop new, clean ways of generating and using energy. And as global demand for energy increases, this quest will become even more urgent. This year the population of the planet reached 7 billion. By 2050 it may top 9 billion. All will need access to modern and affordable energy services.

The Bank addresses inclusive growth through a variety of its energy operations, in distribution, generation and transmission as well as in policy support. Distribution projects, such electrification have the most clear inclusive growth output: Households, public buildings and business are connected to the grid, allowing for access to modern energy services

Policy-based loans offer the opportunity to engage in policy dialogue and support desirable sectoral policy changes. A review of the AfDB’s current energy portfolio shows that the Bank financed six policy-based loans in the energy sector between 1995 and the present: in Senegal (SECAL), in Sierra Leone, in Tunisia (Compagnie des Phosphates de Gafsa), in Lesotho (public utilities in 2000), in Mozambique (energy reform and access in 2003), and in Egypt (climate change energy sector budget support in 2011).

Africa has so far not attracted much climate finance. Nearly two dozen climate funds exist globally into which about US$32 billion has been pledged and US$ 13 billion deposited to date. Of the total amount of project budgets approved, Africa’s share is only 15%. One of the reasons for this is that Africa has very low greenhouse gas emissions and most existing instruments target carbon reductions more than low greenhouse gases growth trajectories.