The 2021 Forum of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) focused on how the two regions’ partnership can be leveraged to achieve energy and climate goals. The Forum convened on 20 October 2021, following the UN’s High-level Dialogue on Energy and ahead of the second AU-EU Ministerial Meeting.

Speakers highlighted:

• The greater cost of inaction than the cost of reaching energy goals; 
• The need for African countries and companies to benefit from the energy transition, including in green hydrogen and other emerging sectors; and
• The energy transition’s potential to contribute to job creation, innovation, sustainable mobility, industrialization, and inclusivity, particularly for women and youth.

Insights from the discussions will be taken into preparations of the AU-EU ministerial convening from 25-26 October 2021, in Kigali, Rwanda. 

In August 2021 the AEEP Secretariat released an analysis of progress towards universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy in Africa, and what still needs to be done to achieve SDG 7 in the years ahead. The report finds that the cost of inaction is far greater than achieving the goals, both in terms of the risk posed to achieving other SDGs, and in financial terms. [AEEP Forum recordings] [AEEP Forum webpage]