AEF Co-Hosts Joint High Level Community Meeting with Climate Compatible Growth and Presidential Climate Commission

AEF co-hosted a Joint High Level Community Meeting in Cape Town, South Africa from the 16th to the 18th of March, bringing together researchers and policy makers involved in energy planning and modelling across Africa, and facilitating learning exchanges, promoting South–South collaboration and strengthening human and institutional capacity for integrated energy modelling and investment planning.

The workshop delivered case studies, including presentations on Turkey’s use of Climate, Land, Energy and Water Systems (CLEWs) modelling in the design of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), as well as the South African Presidential Climate Commission’s (PCC) experience in establishing and coordinating a Community of Practice (CoP) of researchers. Professor Debra Roberts delivered a rousing keynote speech on the opening day, pointing out that global temperatures will likely overshoot the 1.5 degree limit. She warned that even the full implementation of NDCs would not prevent the planet from being pushed beyond its adaptation and mitigation limits. The speech ended on a hopeful note, emphasizing that disaster could be averted if we over-deliver on current commitments.

Jurgen Olivier, Secretariat of the PCC, commented that: “From our perspective we want to encourage our colleagues – from academics to policymakers – to remember when they are doing their analysis and planning, that people will be affected by the decisions they take. These choices are not theoretical, they have real impact on people’s lives. We’re excited to see this dynamic conference take place”.

Steve Nicholls, Project Director at AEF, added: “AEF was established to build institutional capacity, and our goal is to establish a continental network of energy planning and research hubs that will continually exchange knowledge and resources. This event brings together the nascent African network to begin to learn from each other.”

Prof. Mark Howells, Programme Director at CCG, concluded: “It’s crucial that our potential philanthropic and funding partners understand that this conference is where they will find the climate solutions they are looking for: the clean energy projects with credible business cases, and the data-driven realities that enable them to know that their investment will make a difference because it’s targeted in the right place, for the right people. And they’ll find a community grounded in economic reality and using data to provide real actionable insights to support projects that will benefit all aspects of life – health, education, economic growth, female empowerment – fuelled by sustainable solutions. We need them, now, to help African countries scale up and reinforce this momentum through investment – to deliver the change the continent needs.”

Videos from the meeting are available on the AEF Youtube channel.