BY AGBAOSI BABATUNDE NUNAYON
The Global Leadership Council has been unveiled to scale up clean, reliable energy and to stop global warming.
In a statement issued by the Communication and External Relations Department, African Development Bank (AfDB), the council was inaugurated on Wednesday, September 21, 2022.
The inauguration was also during the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The Council is made up of global leaders including the President of AfDB, Dr Akinwumi Adesina.
Others are Patricia Espinosa, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme; and Werner Hoyer, President, European Investment Bank.
It is co-chaired by the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway, Jonas Støre, and the Rockefeller Foundation president, Dr Rajiv Shah.
The council is expected to focus on efforts to break down barriers to just energy transitions in developing countries.
Støre said the global crisis was slowing progress toward universal energy access and clean energy transitions.
âAs we head towards COP27, the world is a very different place than one year ago.
âThe war in Ukraine, global energy shortages, and record temperatures have aggravated the situation.
âThis is the defining challenge of our times. It is more important than ever that we drive up the pace of change and commit to greater collaboration so we can achieve the change people so desperately need.â
Also speaking, Adesina said the AfDB would work with the council to advocate innovative technologies and financing systems that would sustain a low-carbon development era that was growth compatible for Africa.
âI see significant complementarity between the objectives of Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and what we are doing at the African Development Bank.
âEspecially, regarding the Desert to Power Project that aims to generate 10,000 MW of solar Power to supply 250 million people,â Adesina said.
Participants at the meeting discussed driving down the cost of clean energy technologies, delivering locally owned Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JET-Ps), and building carbon credits for coal decommissioning.
Furthermore, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation said the mission and the opportunity of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet were to scale innovative green technologies.
Shah said this was to restart the progress lost to COVID-19 and stop the rapid march of climate change.
âThe Global Leadership Council has the knowledge and the networks to overcome the most challenging barriers to unlocking opportunity with energy transitions and keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.â
Simon Harford, the Chief Executive Officer, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, observed that achieving an energy transition was very important.
Harford said there was the need to achieve energy transition with more equitable access to clean energy for countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
âWith the extraordinary depth of experience and commitment of the members of the Global Leadership Council, we will strive to increase the pace and scale of providing clean, reliable energy to those who donât have it.
âWhile reducing emissions, improving livelihoods, and advancing womenâs empowerment worldwide,â he said.
