The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Africa together with the Royal African Society welcomes you to observe the first oral evidence session of their current parliamentary inquiry into UK-African Partnerships for Just Energy Transitions in Africa.

Africa is a large and diverse continent – with a mix of low, middle and high income countries. As highlighted during the recent African Climate Summit- The continent overall contributes less than 4% to global emissions yet suffers some of the worst consequences of the climate crisis pushing people further into hunger and poverty (including an estimated loss of between 5% and 15% of its GDP per capita growth annually). In Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) 567 million people are without access to electricity – 80% of the global total, while 970 million lack access to clean cooking. Yet despite this, and its abundant natural resources, SSA only attracts around 2-3% of global annual investments in clean energy.

The inquiry is led by Lord Jonny Oates (Co-chair of the APPG) in order to bring the experience and narratives of African stakeholders of energy transitions to Westminster to better inform parliamentary debate, scrutiny and policy making. The inquiry is gathering written and oral evidence to inform the policy report complete with practical policy recommendations for UK Government which will be published Summer 2024 .

This is the first of three oral evidence sessions and will focus on energy access and social & environmental justice and begin to explore how the UK might support and partner with countries in Africa in their efforts to address energy poverty in a just and inclusive way. In the lead up to COP 28, this session is an opportunity for parliamentarians and observers to hear from key stakeholders on the opportunities, needs, key risks or challenges of the clean energy transition within Africa and explore what a just and inclusive energy transition for African countries means as well as how much capital is needed to fund it.

The second session will take place in Westminster (hybrid) during the concluding days of COP 28 on 11th December and will focus in Climate Finance and the third in February 2024 (date TBC) on Regulation.

Chair: Lord Jonny Oates and members of the parliamentary committee of inquiry

Panelists include:

Professor Youba Sokona- Former Vice Chair IPCC

International Energy Agency-Emma Gordon, Energy & Investment Policy Analyst & Gianluca Tonolo, Sub-Saharan Africa Statistician

Amar Inamdar, KawiSafiVentures

Basani Baloyi- Institute for Economic Justice

The International Labour Organisation (tbc)

Plus others TBC

NB- This first session will be held entirely online as a Zoom Webinar. There will be two panels of speakers, each followed by a Q&A with the parliamentarians of the inquiry committee. If there is time the Chair may take a couple of questions from the wider audience.