UAE, African Leaders launch Green Industrialisation Initiative at COP28

Kenyan President William Ruto and the UAE have joined to convene African heads of state and other leaders in a landmark event at COP28 to accelerate Africa’s Green Industrialisation, leveraging the UAE’s clean energy pipeline in Africa.

The launch event was attended by the heads of state for Angola, Burundi, Djibouti, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia; Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and COP28 President; Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Egypt; principals from leading green developers, multilateral development banks, and key institutions from across the UAE and Africa.

Kenya’s Africa Green Industrialisation Initiative aims to accelerate and scale green industries and businesses across Africa, promote climate mitigation and adaptation, and catalyse economic green growth on the continent.

In his remarks, President Ruto underscored that “the Initiative marks a concrete step toward the realisation of the Nairobi Declaration, activating private sector-led scaling-up of green industrial clusters”.

African leaders unequivocally embraced the Africa Green Industrialisation Initiative as the definitive pathway for their nations' development. Leaders discussed their plans to activate end-to-end socioeconomic transformation through the rapid growth of green industrial clusters, and the strong role of regional and global export markets for value-added green products and technologies, crucial for the global clean energy value chain.

"We are forging a green pathway for Africa. Through strategic collaborations with industrial and energy developers across the continent, we have set in motion a virtuous cycle, fostering economic growth and sustainable job creation” stated, Macky Sall, President of Senegal.

Dr Al Jaber lauded the initiative as an opportunity to elevate the ambition of the COP28 Presidency’s Clean Energy programme launched at the Africa Climate Summit. “The UAE not only wants to support countries’ green industrialization: we want populations in those countries to have access to high-quality jobs and opportunities. This is the spirit of green industrialization.”

Participants at the event witnessed the strong progress of the $4.5 billion Africa Green Investment initiative, launched during this year’s African Climate Summit in Nairobi. Spearheaded by UAE’s Masdar, AMEA Power, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, and Etihad Credit Insurance, with Africa50 as the strategic partner, this initiative has already allocated nearly $2.6 billion for green energy projects in 8 countries that will add about 1.8 GW of clean power to the African grid.

During the event, attendees learned of the UAE-led initiative’s project pipeline. The initiative’s partners also made several ambitious announcements that will not only contribute to clean energy generation but also stimulate green growth and economic diversification, marking significant strides in Africa's journey towards green industrialisation.

COP28 President and President Ruto sent out a strong call to action for more countries and partners to join the two initiatives, laying the foundation for sustainable growth at the heart of Africa’s economic future.