13 May 2012: The First Stakeholder Forum of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) took place from 9-10 May 2012 in Cape Town, South Africa, with the aim of progressing on the AEEP 2020 targets to radically improve African deployment of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy access, and energy security.

The Forum brought together over 250 representatives from government, civil society, research and the private sector, including financial institutions, to explore, among other issues, how to enhance synergies among different stakeholder groups and address barriers to increased investment and development assistance in the energy sector. The Forum’s events included: a panel discussion on the future outlook for the AEEP; the launch of a preliminary report, titled “Monitoring Progress in the Africa-EU Energy Partnership” (only the final version will be made publicly available, in 2013); a Renewable Energy Business Roundtable; and three interactive parallel sessions to explore key issues relating to the core AEEP themes of renewable energy and energy efficiency, energy access, and energy security.

During the closing session, the Special Rapporteur for the Forum, Albert Butare, reported on some of the proposals for the way forward that emerged during the discussions, and highlighted specific messages to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) and the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative, including a number of concrete contributions to be achieved through realizing the AEEP 2020 targets, namely: expanding energy access to 100 million more people in Africa; increasing the share of renewable energy in the energy mix; achieving substantial increases in energy efficiency; and facilitating SE4ALL stakeholder involvement in the African region.

The meeting was hosted by the Department of Energy, South Africa, in collaboration with the AEEP Co-Chairs: the African Union (AU) Commission for Infrastructure and Energy; the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany; the Federal Ministry of European and International Affairs, Austria; and the Ministry of Energy and Public Utilities, Mauritius. Additional support was received from the European Commission. [AEEP Forum Website] [IISD RS Summary Report of the First Stakeholder Forum of the AEEP: English, French]